LIVES OF THE WARRIORS
OF
THE THIETY YEARS' WAR
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BY
UEUT.-GEN. THE HON. SIR EDWARD CUST, D.O.L.
AUTHOB OF "ANNALS OF THE WAES."
" For to read History only for contemplation is a vain and idle pleasure, which
passeth away without fruit; but to imitate the virtue of those praised
men in it, is the true and publick learning." — Icon Animorum.
PART I.
LONDON :
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1865. ..
TO
THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY
COMPILED
FOR NAVAL AND MILITARY INFORMATION,
ARE,
BY HER MAJESTY'S CONDESCENDING PERMISSION,
WITH THE DEEPEST DEVOTION AND MOST
RESPECTFUL ATTACHMENT,
VERY GRATEFULLY DEDICATED BY
HER MAJESTY'S MASTER OF THE CEREMONIES.
"THEN, THEN, YE LAURELLED WARRIORS,
OUR FEAST AND SONG SHALL FLOW,
TO THE FAME
OF YOUR NAME,
WHEN THE STORM HA8 CEASED TO BLOW,
WHEN THE FIERY FIGHT IS HEARD NO MORE, AND THE STORM
HAS CEASED TO BLOW."
CAMPBELL.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Preface vii
PAET I.
Introduction — Revolt of the Netherlands .... 1
1567 — 1625. Maurice of Orange-Nassau, a Netherlandish
General .......... 19
1569 — 1633. Ambrosio, Marquis de Spinola, a Spanish General 53
1585—1626. Ernest, Count Mansfeld, a German General . 67
1559 — 1632. John Tzerclaes, Count von Tilly, an Imperialist
General 79
1594—1632. Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden . . Ill
1594 — 1632. Godfrey Henry, Count von Pappenheim, an Im-
perialist General 223
1583—1634. Albrecht von Waldstein, Walstein, or Wallen-
stein, an Imperial General, Duke of Friedland, Sagan,
Glogau, and Mecklenburg 239
PAET II.
1604 — 1638. Bernhard, Duke of Saxe Weimar, a German
General 307
1596 — 1641. Johann Gustaf von Baner, or Banier, a Swedish
General .343
1589 — 1647. Matthias von Gallas, an Imperialist General . 375
1603 — 1651. Leonard Torstenson, a Swedish General . . 391
1594 — 1652. Johann de Werth, or Von Weerth, an Imperial
General 445
1592—1657. Gustavus Horn, a Swedish Field- Marshal . . 461
1599 — 1656- Octavio Piccolomini, an Imperial General . 489
1613—1676. Karl Gustaf Wrangel, a Swedish General and
Admiral ......... 503
1608 — 1681. Raymond de Montecuculi, Montccucculi, or Mon-
tecuccoli, an Imperialist General 523
VI CONTENTS.
APPENDIX.
PAGE
1581 — 1611. John George Arnhehn, a Saxon General . . 539
— 1634. John Aldringer, or Altringher, a Field-Marshal
and Count of the Empire 550
L622— 1660. The Palsgrave (Charles X.), a Swedish General . 552
1608 — 1657. King of Hungary (Ferdinand III.), Imperialist
General 558
1599 — 1615. Field-Marshal Count von Goetz, an Imperial
General 559
1602—1643. Comte de Guebriant, a Freneh Marshal . . 563
1593 — 1658. Count Melehior von Hatzfeld, Imperialist
General ......... 567
1582 — 1635-6. Dodon de Kniphausen, a Swedish General . 568
1600 — 1663. John Christopher Count de Kcenigsmark, a
Swedish General ........ 572
1614 — 1662. The Archduke Leopold William, Imperial Com-
mander 575
— 1645. Franz von Mercy, a Bavarian General . . 579
1600—1650. List of Battles 585
1607 — 1648. Consecpiences of the Revolt of the Netherlands,
and of the Thirty Years' War 587
ERRATA.
P. 27, /or cowering read towering.
— 32, for him read the Archduke, /or he read the Imperial General.
— 45, for Tillary read Tilbury.
— 66. 68. 78. 114. 222, for Kriegs-Kunst-Lexikon read Militair-Conversations-
Lexikon.
— 122, for Danamond read Dunamond.
— 123, for Charrasse read Charnace.
— 184, for 100,000 infantry and 40,000 cavalry read 40,000 infantry and 10,000
cavalry.
— 193, for the Queen read the Klectress.
PKEFACE.
It has long- been my settled persuasion, that at
a period when active duty cannot be experienced by
the war-professions, the injunction of our great Duke
to young officers, " that they should go and see service
in the field/' is best obeyed by a study of the past ;
and that the histories of wars and warriors are the
best and only available substitute for active military
service in the field. But unhappily wars and warriors
are as old as seas and mountains, and it becomes some-
what difficult to determine within what limits of the
world's history we are to confine our study of strategy
and tactics. In the earlier stages of strife, before
science of any kind could have been engrafted upon it,
bodily prowess must have been of course the one thing
needful; but we see from our every-day's experience
of savage war, how early barbarian cunning and sub-
tlety leads up to military skill, so that war in its
fundamental principles is of very remote antiquity.
VI u PREFACE.
Yet, nevertheless, no art was ever devised that has
Bhowed so many phases for our study, so that it lias
been somewhat the fashion of late years to recur even
to the prowess of such ancient conquerors as Belisarius,
Hannibal, and Caesar : yet (under favour of high Imperial
authority) I venture to assert that there is very little in-
struction to be gathered from, what may be termed, the
a rchaeology of soldiering-. We must descend to the more
similar experience of later times if we would be prac-
tical, nor can we even be stopped by the gay banners
and pennons of mailed knights and barons with their
jovial bands of retainers and their brave and dashing
enterprise, if we would obtain examples of what may
be rendered useful in modern warfare.
There are, however, many things in books that
officers ought to know, and which they would gladly
know, and which they only do not know because lew-
have given themselves the trouble to cater for their
information. I say this specially in regard to our
own country, in the literature of which the military
element is very sparse, and is neither encouraged nor
rewarded. The soldier-class more than any other
requires to be taught, because they are precluded from
the opportunity of searching out things for them-
selves ; nor have they the leisure nor the quiet neces-
sary to make voluminous researches by any exertions
of their own. Eveiy other class — the country gentle-
man, the parson, the lawyer, nay even the sailor — can
collect libraries and read books at their leisure in com-
PREFACE. IX
fortable sedillas with all the facilities of annotation
and comparison ; but the soldier has neither the
means of carrying" libraries about with him, nor does
he possess convenient arrangements for study of any
kind. His pocket must hold his circulating- library, and
the bare ground must be his reading-desk, or he must
literally " read as he runs," if he desires to read at all l.
Beyond the unattractive barrack-room he can command
no retirement in which to consult books of reference, if
he can get them, or in which he might digest deeply-
reasoned intelligence. Above all other professions he
requires to be mentally fed by popular instruction, or
what may be termed compressed knowledge — articles
in reviews or pamphlets, books in short sections or
chapters, which admit of easy breaks and resting-places,
should the bugle or the drum disturb the current of his
study, and summon him from his books to his duties.
It is a desire to meet this characteristic of the mili-
tary service that has converted me in the decline of life
into an Author. Like my "Annals of the Wars,"
the "Lives of the Warriors" is intended to place
before the soldier the great theatre of the wars of the
past, which presents a busy and a brilliant stage on
which actors of great name and celebrity (veritable
" stars ") have " fretted their hour." I desire also to
introduce him into the green-room, where we may
1 For this cause I have arranged that several volumes of this pub-
lication should be divided into two parts, and bound up, each com-
pletely separate in a limp binding, as a soldier's copy.
x PREFACE.
hoar somewhat of their " saying's and doings." These
biographies are not intended to note the mere existenee
of warriors <>i' ancient times, with the dates of their
births, marriages, and deaths, but, somewhat after the
manner of Plutarch, I would collect together every
incident on record that ma}' illustrate the character
and the services of each, while their careers are inter-
twined with the Annals of the Wars in which they
bore a conspicuous part. We shall see that the repu-
tation obtained is often very superior to the actions
performed, and that many were not altogether the
demigods they have been thought to be, according
to the old proverb of the hero and his valet de
chambre. When the puppet has doffed his stage
robes, he often becomes an idol of brass and clay of
very small dimensions. I think we shall also find,
that in the early portion of the seventeenth century
the pretensions of the French to have been the great
teachers of modern warfare are not quite made out;
that it was the nations of the hardy North, who by
their extraordinary powers of personal endurance,
energy, and activity, supplanted the pompous and
cumbersome tactics of the Spaniard, who up to the
close of the previous century had been regarded as the
Warrior of Europe ; that Maurice of Nassau, Spinola,
Mansfeld, Gustavus Adolphus, and Torstenson first
introduced regular discipline, order, and simplicity
into the movements of armies, and first set fatigue
and climate at nought. Doubtless in the later portion
PREFACE. XI
of the same century the French improved the sciences
of fortification, artillery, and strategy; but perhaps
the greater amendments in arms and dress were as
much the work of one nation as of another.
Nearly one-third of the biographies here recorded
are not to be found in any English Biographical
Dictionary or Encyclopedia. Some are not even
introduced in that most valuable and wonderful
repertory, La Biographie Universelle ; and one or
two have even escaped the industrial research of the
Militair-Conversations-Lexikon. But all Swedish
histories record with a just pride the prowess of their
arms in the Thirty Years' War, and dwell upon the
great deeds of their warriors with very pardonable
admiration. The names of Baner, Horn, Wrangel,
and Kniphausen, are probably quite unknown to even
a double-first at our Universities, but deserve never-
theless to be introduced to every military student;
and the school of Gustavus Adolphus is more deserving
of study at our Staff College than that of any warrior-
class that has preceded or followed it.
I have been somewhat severely criticized for what
has been regarded as carelessness in my former history
in the correct orthography of names and places. At
the same time that I do not admit the charge, I think
I am entitled to plead that a work dealing so exten-
sively in geographical and personal details has a just
claim to much indulgence and great mercy. Brother-
authors must know how difficult, if not impossible, it
XII PREFACE.
is to avoid errors of the kind, from ;i slip of the pen,
from oversight, and from the post-dated blunders of
the printer. 1 have been always exceedingly desirous
to obtain correctness in this matter, and have employed
men of ability in that particular department as editors
for the very purpose. But it is not very easy to de-
termine the correct spelling- of the names of towns that
are very often different even in different maps of the
same language. The eight spelling-, moreover, very often
depends on this — whether you consult English, French,
or German Gazetteers. I charg-e the French with being-
the great sinners in the orthography of names, and
with having been the tempters that have led us wrong-
for so many years ; and it is now almost vain ever
to hope to get right. For any individual writer to
attempt to make a complete reform would expose him to
a severer criticism and charge of pedantry ; and every
one may remember a modern edition of the Arabian
Nights, wherein those friends of our youth are intro-
duced in correct oriental costume, very greatly to the
confusion of the European reader. What now are we
to write in the battle-fields of Europe ? Wien or Vienna,
Firenze or Florence, Aachen or Aix-la-Chapelle,
S'G raven Hage or the Hague, Herzogenbusch or
Bois-le-Duc or Bolduc, and so on ad infinitum ? In
reply to my critics I may perhaps be permitted to add,
what I should not have done from any desire of vain
boasting, that I happen to have made the acquaintance
of a German gentleman who is excecding-ly well read
PREFACE. Xlll
in military history, and whose home is amid the battle-
fields on the banks of the Danube, who told me that he
had read many of my volumes, and he had the kindness
to volunteer the remark that I was one of the very few
foreigners, English or French, who had taken some
trouble to spell the names of places and persons of his
country with perfect correctness ; and on my adding
that it would be doing me a great service if he would
kindly point out to me any casual errors, as I was ex-
ceedingly desirous to merit such a commendation, he
replied, " I cannot recall a single name spelt wrong."
There has been indeed a great deal more research
requisite than might have been anticipated to bring
the history of the Thirty Years' War before the
English reader. I am not aware of any ample
biographies of the renowned Captains included in
this volume that exist either in the English or
French language. Harte's Life of Gustavus Adol-
phus, Mitchell's Life of Wallenstein, and De Peyster's
Life of Torstenson, are all that have been open to me
in our own language, beyond the very cursory notices
of the war in Russell and Coxe's histories ; for Schiller,
although he has been admirably translated, is pro-
verbially meagre in all military details. The history
of France has not, as far as I know, done more for the
great Swedish heroes of the period than name them in
so far merely as they are connected with French events.
Sporschil's and Becher's histories of the Thirty Years'
War, and Menzel's history of Germany, take up the
XIV PREFACE.
Gorman side of the question, and Lundblad'e " Swedish
Plutarch/' and Puffendorfs " Schwedisch Kricgs-
geschichte/' with the ordinary histories of Sweden,
adopt the opposite side. The " Tlieatrnm Europamm,
1662," affords the best details of the battles, and there
are several works in Dnteh which relate to the wars of
the Netherlands. Many of these volumes being" in
languages not universally understood, are inaccessible
to the ordinary English reader. Under these circum-
stances there is ample room and verge enough for any
military writer to follow in the same track by which I
have travelled ; and there is an imposing grandeur in
the history of the Thirty Years' War which would be
a rich field for such men as Motley and Froude to
illustrate with their researches. I sincerely wish these
most interesting historians, who just stop on the
threshold of the great politics of the seventeentli
century, may be tempted to overstep their present
boundaries, and thus make up the deficiency which I
have so unworthily attempted in the mean while to
occupy.
Leasowe Castle,
March, 1865.
LIVES OF THE WAERIOBS.
THIETY YEAES' WAR.
PART I.
CONTENTS
OF
PART I.
MAURICE OF NASSAU . NETHERLANDISH. GENERAL.
MARQUIS DE SPTNOLA .... SPANISH GENERAL.
COUNT MANSFELD GERMAN GENERAL.
TZERCLAES, COUNT YON")
. i
IMPERIALIST GENERAL.
TILLY . .
GUSTAYUS ADOLPHUS .... KING OF SWEDEN.
GODFREY YON PAPPENHEIM . . IMPERIALIST GENERAL.
ALBRECHT YON WALDSTEIN . . IMPERIALIST GENERAL.
WARRIORS
OF THE
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
INTRODUCTION.
Somewhat precedent in point of time to the opening Revolt of
of the century and the breaking out of the Thirty f2€'ther"
Years' War must be named the Eevolt of the Nether-
lands ; for the spirit that produced both outbreaks
was identical, and the events that grew out of them
have rendered the Seventeenth Century one of the
brightest epochs of the world's history in the cause of
civil and religious liberty.
It is necessary to bear in mind that, from the
days of the Romans, the Batavians and Belgians,
although both were men of the Netherlands, were
a different people. The latter, who came to be called
Flemish, were much more advanced in civilization
than the former, who are distinguished as Dutch.
These last were at this early period the least heroic
population in Europe — a peaceful tribe of fishermen
and shepherds ; they occupied an obscure corner of the
world, which with incredible industry, resolution, and per-
severance, they had reclaimed from the ocean. Though
little noticed by the rest of Europe, and removed from
its dissensions, they had, notwithstanding their obscu-
B
I
[KTBODTJCTIOF.
rity, advanced fco the condition of a prosperous trading
community, and revelled in the ease and luxuries that
attend thriving industry: hut as long as they were
left in the full enjoyment of this humble happiness
they ap] .cared neither ambitious, nor even capable, of
giving trouhle to those who governed them. They
formed part of the vast dominions of Charles V., whose
paternal spirit was very much limited to the task of
keeping his subjects free from heresy, or, in other
words, he very amiably desired to place a padlock upon
the minds of his people, and in the plenitude of
Imperial power to think for them, in order to spare
them the trouhle of saving their own souls by an
implicit following of his autocratic injunctions. But
these simple merchantmen were just in this very particu-
lar accessible to insult and offence ; they had already far
outstripped the narrow-minded monarch in the views
of spiritual truth, the gladdening dawn of which had
lately broken over Europe, and had penetrated with
its enlightening beams even to this almost forgotten
corner of the Emperor's dominions. A spirit of inde-
pendence is wont to accompany commercial enterprise ;
and a people of but few wants were irritated at heing
interfered with in the possession of that which " did not
enrich him, but made them poor indeed." They dared to
jeopardize their prosperity and abundance, in defence of
the faith of their hearts, and did not conceal their desire
to burst the ignominious chain of Church opinions which
it was the Sovereign's pleasure to impose upon them,
and which they already regarded as antiquated and
unsound. These hardy men resolved to think on such
transcendently important matters for themselves ; and
when they found the iron rod of despotism threatening
to curb their aspirations, and to intrude itself into
their homes, they were driven to form secret societies
amongst themselves, in which they might pursue their
free thoughts, and protect their families from the
interference of the priesthood. Many French Calvinists
INTRODUCTION. 3
had at this time found their way into the villages of
Holland, introducing a bold scepticism on old Church
dogmas, that suited these rising aspirations ; and
Anabaptists and Memnonites out of Switzerland also
spread new, and as yet strange, doctrines of self-
government, which opened fresh veins of thought, that
were received with avidity by the people. The com-
plaint had in a marvellously short time become an
ulcerous sore in the State, and required prudence and
a lenient treatment, just when their king, Philip II.,
who was a practitioner of a rougher order, ascended the
throne of Spain, and sent the Hollanders a governor
whose very first steps maddened them, and caused an
eruption of discontent and rebellion that transformed a
harmless, moral, commercial tribe into a race of heroes
and demigods in the march of freedom.
It was the special commission of the Duke of Alva
to exterminate heresy by any and every means, and
forthwith torrents of blood, noble as well as simple,
flowed under the bitterness of his persecution. The
character of the King was already known before the
arrival of this governor in 1566, who had indeed been
preceded by other governors of the same stamp ; and the
people had been also visited by the dreadful Spanish In-
quisition in the days of Charles V., as far back as 1522,
and by the ministry of Cardinal Granvella. Accordingly,
the most spirited of the nobles of the land had already
taken the lead in asserting the independence of the
Netherlands by an open association and remonstrance.
Among them was found the celebrated name of William,
the first Prince of Orange, with the Counts Egmont aiul
Hoorn, names of sufficient notoriety, whose history will
readily be recalled to mind ; but nevertheless a short
biographical notice of these eminent martyrs may be
interesting, as the lives of the warriors of this period
are intimately connected with the history of the pre-
ceding century.
William, the first Prince of Orange, surnamed " the Qrance
B 2
I NTE0D1ICTI0X.
Silent," was descended from the princely German house
of Nassau, which had in former times given an
Emperor to Germany, and had for eight centuries
disputed the pre-eminence with Austria. His father,
the sovereign Count of Nassau, had married a Countess
Stolberg, and had embraced the Protestant religion, so
that the son, born in 1533, had been educated in it.
Yet William was sent quite young to the Imperial
court, where he won the personal attachment of
the Emperor Charles V., who honoured him with a
confidence very far beyond his years, for he is said to
have placed him very near his person, and even per-
mitted him to remain in the closet royal when the
sovereign gave audience to foreign ambassadors.
Indeed the Emperor, with unwonted candour, had made
the open confession, that the young man had often
made suggestions which would have escaped his own
sagacity. The Prince of Orange was only twenty-
three years of age when Charles abdicated the govern-
ment ; but so largely had the Imperial favour con-
tinued to be extended to him to the last, that he
was entrusted with the honourable charge of conveying
to Ferdinand the Imperial crowm, and was nominated
by the retiring sovereign to the command in chief of
the Imperial army in the Netherlands.
This is the character that Schiller gives of this
highly favoured tyro, thus prematurely placed in a
post of responsibility : — "William of Orange was one
of those lean and pale men, who according to Caasar
' sleep not at nights, and think too much,' and before
whom many spirits quaiL The calm tranquillity of a
never-varying countenance concealed a busy, ardent
soid, which never ruffled even the veil behind which it
worked ; and was alike inaccessible to artifice and to
love : a versatile, formidable, indefatigable mind, soft
and ductile enough to be instantaneously moulded
into all forms, guarded enough to lose itself in none,
and strong enough to endure every vicissitude of
INTRODUCTION. £
fortune. A greater master in reading and in winning
men's hearts never existed than William."
A man like this might at other times have remained
unfathomed hy his whole generation ; but the marked
favour which the Prince had enjoyed with the father
was in itself a sufficient ground to be marked for exclu-
sion from the confidence of his son ; and Philip II. saw
quickly and deeply into his character, and perceived that
he would have to deal with one who was armed against
his own policy, and who, uniting against him the qualities
which he prized highest, excited his suspicion and dis-
trust ; so that he hated the man to such an extent as to
have a supernatural dread of him, and the aversion was
naturally reciprocated by the young Prince. This was
immeasurably increased in Philip's mind by the doubts
he entertained of William's religion; — doubts which the
former would naturally feel, for the Prince of Orange
had in the Emperor's court affected the Romish Church,
though he had been educated a Protestant, but had been
already, in the course of his career, Eoman, Lutheran,
and Calvinist. The Prince indeed defended the liber-
ties of the Protestants rather than their opinions ; and
it was not their faith, but their wrongs, that drove him
in the end to stake every thing for their cause.
Accident, indeed, that makes most men great, pro-
duced the changes that elevated William of Orange to be
a great leader of the Protestants. He had borne a part
in the negotiations that led to the peace of Cateau
Cambresis ; and was accordingly required to remain in
France as hostage for the fulfilment of its conditions.
Here, through the imprudence of the French king,
Henry II., who imagined he spoke with a confidant of
the king of Spain, the prince became acquainted with
the secret plot which had been formed by both courts
for the suppression of Protestant liberty, and he hastened
to Brussels to communicate the important discovery to
the nobles of the Netherlands.
Among the greatest of these was Lamoral, Count mon^
() ivntoDicnov
Egmont, whose lineage was do Less noble than that of
William. 1 Le was a descendant of those dukes of
Gueldres who had been likewise formidable antagonists
of the house of Austria. One of his ancestors had,
under llir Emperor Maximilian, held the high office of
Stadtholder of the how Countries. He himself had
served under C'harli's V. in the battle-fields of St.
Quintin and G-ravelines ; and lie had received the order
of the Golden Fleece from his sovereign, under whose
eyes he had risen to be considered one of the heroes of
his age. lie was married to a princess of the ducal
house of Bavaria, which added considerably to his per-
sonal consequence ; so that, from his high lineage and
military honour, Flemish pride exulted in Egmont as the
most illustrious son of their country. He united, indeed,
all the eminent qualities that confer greatness. He was
a better soldier than the Prince of Orange, although he
was in truth far inferior to him as a statesman ; and a
noble and courteous demeanour, both liberal, bountiful,
and chivalrous, graced his merits. But his frankhearted-
ness, that made him popular, managed the secrets of his
breast no better than his benevolence did his estate, and,
while reckless of his property and ready to do any man
a service, a thought no sooner entered his heart than it
was the property of all. His religion was gentle and
humane, but not very enlightened, because it derived its
light from the heart rather than from the understanding.
With such a character as this we find Egmont described
in the pages of Schiller, — " a vain good man, satisfied
with himself, and sauntering on in a sweet reverie as in
a delightful world of dreams."
Count <pne Prince 0f Orange and the Count Egmont were
both governors of provinces, and also members of the
state council. Philip do Montmorency-Nivelle, Count
Hoorn, was of a lower class of nobility, although he had
been made knight of the Golden Fleece and governor of
a province, he had been, moreover, recently named
admiral of the Belgian navy. This nobleman was bhi
INTRODUCTION. /
great-grandson of that John deNivelle who had sacrificed
a birthright in France out of devotion to the Duke of
Burgundy, leaving his paternal inheritance to pass to a
brother, who was father of the celebrated Anne de
Montmorency, Constable of France. His mother was
of the family of Egmont, who had been twice married,
first to M. de Nivelle, the father of the Count, who
had died in 1530, and secondly to the Count de Hoorn,
who, having no children, left his vast estates to the
issue of his former marriage, on the condition of their
adopting the name of Hoorn. Philip was the eldest son
of the first marriage, and, by succeeding to the inherit-
ance of both the husbands of his mother, became one
of the richest gentlemen of the Netherlands. He had
distinguished himself, like his kinsman D'Egmont, both
at St. Quintin and Gravelines, and had united himself
with him in a friendship that dated from a long com-
radeship, sharing in the same opinions both of politics
and religion. He associated with the Prince of Orange
and Egmont in the many meetings and conferences that
were held on the subject of a resistance to the arbitrary
conduct of Philip ; and the Duke of Alva soon perceived
how much the influence of such men as these endangered
his policy.
These three leaders of the great Protestant party of Krederodc
the Low Countries were associated with many of the am
great families of the province, — such as Henry of Bre-
derode (descended from the old Dutch Counts who
formerly ruled as sovereign princes), and the Counts of
Kinlenburg, Bergen, and of Batterburg, together with
John Philip de Marnix, the Baron de Aldegonde, &c.
These men set their hands to a solemn declaration of
right, and had secretly acted together against the go-
vernment. They were assembled for the last time to-
gether at Villebronk in 1565, when William urgently
counselled immediate, open, and resolute opposition to
their intolerant sovereign. It was, as will be seen,
rather the character of Egmont to recommend patience
8 INTRODUCTION.
and temporizing measures; but the Prince of Orange
showed by the letters he held in his hand, derived, as
we have seen above, from reliable authority, that their
drst ruction was resolved upon, and stated that he was
resolved to take immediate steps for his own preserva-
tion, and to abandon every thing he possessed in the
Netherlands rather than trust to any supposed cle-
mency of the tyrant king, or his ruthless lieutenant.
"Adieu done," said Egmont, "prince sans terres!"
"Adieu," retorted William, " comte sans tete !"
Words of solemn warning, and, as it proved, of melan-
choly presage l.
After William of Orange had openly seceded, Alva
caused the other two to be arrested and thrown into
prison at Ghent on the 10th September, 1567 ; and after
a short process they were both removed to Brussels, and
executed on the 4th June, 1568, in spite of the most
powerful exertions to save them. Egmont left children j
but Count Hoorn having no child by his wife, the large
estates of Nivelle and Hoorn descended to his brother
Floris, who had also served with distinction in the wars
of Charles V., and who also ended his life on the block
at Simancas in Spain by order of Philip II.
The Nassau As soon as Alva heard of the Prince of Orange's
111111 y* defection and flight, he ordered the tribunal of nobles
to cite his attendance formally ; and, on his replying to
the citation by a refusal to attend in a public manifesto,
he was proscribed, and all his goods were confiscated.
His son Philip, who was a student in the University of
Louvain, was seized in his tutor's house, and sent away
to Spain, where he remained a prisoner many years. The
whole family of Nassau sided with their agnate and
adopted the cause of liberty, and took the field with
1 These noblemen were so beloved and so respected by the
people that it was thought the Spanish governor would not dare
to proceed against them; but Alva is reported to have said.
" Les tetes dc qnelques saumons lui parurent preferables a celles
d'un millier de grenouilles."
INTRODUCTION.
9
William2. The wife of the Prince of Orange, a
daughter of the famous Maurice of Saxony, was left
at the family castle of Dillenbourg,where she gave
birth to a son, Maurice of Nassau, to whose career it will
be our intention to advert. After some unimportant
manoeuvring in the field, William, with his five bro-
thers and many of the Protestant princes of Germany,
encountered the Spanish troops at Heiligensee in 1568,
and gained his first victory ; but the Spaniards were vic-
torious against him at Groningen, where Louis of Nassau
only escaped by swimming the river. William, how-
ever, was thenceforward joined by many chiefs of note,
and amongst others by William Von der Mark, Count
de Lunay, a descendant of the famous Boar of
Ardennes, who had vowed neither to cut his beard, nor
even to comb it, until he had revenged the blood of his
friend D'Egmont ; this man was the first to enter-
prise an attack by sea against the Spanish naval
power at the head of some enterprising men, who
became a special mark of the times, and who took the
name of Gueux Marins, or Sea Mendicants.
No narrative of the Wars of the Seventeenth Century Les Gueux.
would be complete without a short account of these
Gueux, who gave a party name to those who seceded
from Popery and took up arms against Spain. The story
is this : Brederode, with the other leaders, had been per-
mitted to present a petition of grievances to Margaret
Duchess of Parma, Regent of the Netherlands; but some
of those who attended happened to overhear the Count
de Barliamont, the Regent's chamberlain, whisper to
Her Highness in French, " that these petitioners were
but a band of Beggars (des Gueux)." Brederode
afterwards related this anecdote at a banquet in which
the patriots were assembled, and the guests, already
perhaps excited with wine, caught up the expression,
2 Four of these noble-spirited brothers of the house of Nassau
shed their blood in the cause ; Adolf, Louis, and Henry in the
field, and William by the hand of an assassin.
10 DTTR0DTJCT10K
and immediately stood up and drank to one another,
exclaiming in chorus " Vivent les Gueux." When the
excitement was at its height Brederode appeared
anions them, with a wallet over his shoulder, similar to
those wliieli the vagrant pilgrims and mendicant monks
of the time were accustomed td carry ahout with them.
He also carried in his hand a wooden beaker, and,
repeating the toast, drank to all their healths, boldly
assuring them that he was ready to venture life and
limb in the cause. The enthusiasm was forthwith
lighted up afresh, the cup went round, every one
uttering the same vow. From thenceforth each one
provided himself with a wallet, which became the
symbol of party, and in a few days the capital swarmed
with the ash-grey garments of mendicancy : the whole
paraphernalia of the tribe being fixed about the hats,
or suspended from the girdles of the conspirators.
The very thing long wanted by the patriotic brother-
hood was a name, and that of Les Gueux was at once
every where adopted.
We see that William of Mark called the adventurers
who followed him afloat by the name of Gueux
Marins. These men (who would have been pirates,
but that they banded for a disinterested and public
object) having no port of their own in which to
harbour, and being shut out from those of England,
boldly resolved to take possession of one for them-
selves, and in 1572 made themselves masters of Bribe
on the coast of Holland. From thence Les Gueux
Marins ran in and out in safety, and, at first seizing
only small traders, they at length defied the royal
squadrons of Spain, and were successful against their
ships of war. They formed in truth the cradle in
which the renowned Dutch navy were nursed in
their Tromps, De Kuyters, and De Winters. The
love of liberty, or the resistance against oppression,
had already transformed into heroes men who by
nature were little accustomed to bear arms, and
11
ISTllODVCTWy.
who from habit were averse to war ; vet Les Gueux
prospered and dispersed themselves, spreading every-
where the contagion of rebellion. The Protestants saw
a colourable pretext for insurrection in the arbitrary-
proceedings of their government ; and it was soon
evident that all return to submission had become im-
possible. In fact, a continuance in revolt was rendered
every day more necessaiy from the excitement of
resistance as well as from despair. The name of
Gueux became soon extolled and honourable in all
the provinces : the Guesen league concentrated the
popular murmur, which, long despised as the cry
of individuals, now became formidable from the
influence of numbers; the ordinary money became
consecrated to the cause, and the Guesen penny, on
which was introduced two travellers' staves laid cross-
wise, served to intimate that all stood prepared to
forsake home and hearth for their humble property, as
well as for religion and liberty.
The Duke of Alva in vain entreated the Hollanders, Duke of
\.lv«i
whom his severities had lashed into fury, to lay down
their arms ; and, in order to pacify Les Gueux, had
prescribed moderation in the Church proceedings
against heretics : but the people would no longer trust
to the promises of one who had so often violated
them, and had treated their complaints with such marked
severity. At length he got thoroughly tired out, and
petitioned for his recall. He was succeeded in his
government of the Netherlands by the Commendator
Requesens in 1573. The bloody Alva boasted at his
departure from his government that he had, in the
course of the five years it had lasted, consigned
18,000 persons to the hands of the public executioner !
Although the career of the Prince of Orange was so William
successful as to raise him to be the marked leader of gta(jt.
the revolt, yet in 1579 the jealousy of those who holder,
served the great cause with him, and under him,
obliged him to form a scheme for uniting the provinces
12
INTRODUCTIOX.
of Holland and Zealand into a separate .state; and this
was subsequently expanded to the league of the Seven
United Provinces, who adopted for the symbol and
anus of their state a bundle of arrows tied together with
a ribbon, which has been the cognizance ever since of
the Republic of Holland, as it is now of the Kingdom
of the Netherlands. But the contest was by no means
yet at an end. The country was still the theatre of
war, and however the power of Spain was obstinately
resisted, the result was doubtful, for the combat was
very disproportionate. It was now, then, that all
hopes of success seemed to hang upon the preservation
of Leyden, long besieged by Valdez. The inhabitants
importunately implored the Prince of Orange to save
the 14,000 souls that were shut up in the city. It
was suggested, as a last resource, that the dykes and
sluices that defended the surrounding country from the
ocean should be cut, and the waters of the sea let in
to dislodge the enemy. The Prince himself indeed
represented the inappreciable sacrifice which such an
inundation would involve ; but the reply of the im-
prisoned free-minded men of Leyden was, " Pays gate
vaut mieux que pays perdu." The devoted people sub-
mitted to the utter destruction of their lands ; and in the
first days of August, 1580, the banks of the Meuse and
the Yssel, between Eotterdam and Gouda, were opened
upon the subjacent country, and the salt water flowed
freely and unrestrained over the smiling fields and
villages of the district. The Spanish army withdrew
from the low to the high lands, but did not raise the
siege ; and for six weeks the summer droughts and
contrary winds kept the inundation from impeding
hostile purposes, and only added to the privations of the
besieged. At length on the 2Sth September, Boizot
with 800 Gueux-marins appeared in sight of Leyden,
leading 200 boats laden with all kind of supplies for its
relief. Valdez, fearing from the increasing height
of the waters that his army would be submerged,
INTRODUCTION.
13
abandoned all his works and artillery, and fled
with precipitation ; so that on the 3rd October the
blockade, that had endured from the 26th May,
was removed ; and the Prince of Orange arrived next
morning in the city, to thank the people for their
devotion and constancy ; and reaping great additional
credit from this event, he increased every day in
power and influence. Shortly afterwards he surprised
Breda, and induced Utrecht and Amsterdam to declare
for the patriots ; and the gratitude of his fellows now
elected him Stadtholder of all the provinces. The Spanish
king was consequently roused into more energetic de-
fence of his territory, and sent against this influence one
of the best men of his dominions, Alexander Farnese,
Duke of Parma, who became a successful rival in the
field against William of Orange, and after a time
recovered and saved the Spanish retention upon the
Netherlands.
The Prince of Orange, although checked and pro- William of
scribed, had become so formidable an enemy to Spain, s™;weaS"
that a price was set upon his head, and an attempt in
consequence was made upon his life by a Frenchman
in 1581 ; but the wound inflicted did not prove
mortal to the Prince, though it probably did to the
assassin. But in 1584 a second attempt was made with
fatal success. While the States of Holland were sharing
the hospitalities of their stadtholder in his palace at
Delft, on July 17th, one Balthazar Gerard, a Bur-
gundian (and it is said a desperate enthusiast, who
thought himself impelled by a Divine command to
commit the murderous act), having obtained entrance
into the state apartments by treachery, or, as he was
known to be in the occasional confidence of the stadt-
holder, by misrepresentation, so placed himself as that
he might with cool aim and certainty fire at William
when passing out of the banqueting-hall, and in this
manner succeeded in lodging three balls in the body of
the illustrious Prince. He instantly fell, and had only
14 INI'I! Iln\
time to ejaculate before he expired, "0 God! have
mercy on this poor nation." Among those who wit-
nessed the deed were his son Maurice, — then a youth of
eighteen years of age, who afterwards succeeded to his in-
fluence and consummated his work, — and his fourth wife,
Louisa, daughter of the famous Admiral de Coligny. This
poor woman had seen three illustrious victims stricken
hefore her eyes; — her own illustrious father, and her first
husband, the famous Teligny, had been among the
killed on St. Bartholomew's day ; and now, greatest of
all, William, Prince of Orange, expired in her arms.
Com- The blood of martyrs is the seed of liberty as of the
of tj10 Church. The glorious Reformation had caused blood
Thirty to flow on the earth like water ; but, like the winds of
k'jJ1^ ' iEolus, freedom of thought as well as freedom of belief
had become unchained, and the storm was aggravated
rather than restrained bv deeds of horror and violence ;
distant populations wrere brought near to one another
by a common sympathy, and a common danger aroused
a like resistance to the arbitrary and haughty encroach-
ments of distant sovereigns upon civil and religious
liberty. The revolt of the Netherlands came soon to be
imitated, and was nowr about to be decided on German
ground, where an inexhaustible mine of combustibles
was already prepared, and laid ready for the explosion.
The Evan- The Diet of Katisbon, to which the Protestants had
Union and ^°°'cc^ f°r securing religious peace, had broken up
Catholic without coming to any decision ; and, in conse-
jeagae. quence, the Lutheran and Calvinistic princes entered
for their own security into a confederacy, called the
Evangelical Union. But at this critical juncture a
highly disputable succession became vacant by the
death of the Duke of Juliers, and, in defiance of the
imperial prohibition, the Union troops took possession
of that duchy, and the whole country submitted to the
Protestant princes, who held the Imperialist troops be-
sieged in the capital town of Juliers. This disputed
succession became a matter that soon interested fo-
INTRODUCTION". 15
reigners as well as Germans, for it opened a scene of
operations for those who were hostile to Austria as well
as for those who were favourable to liberty. A French
army, under Henry IV. in person, agreed to meet the
troops of the Evangelical Union on the banks of the
Rhine, and to assist in effecting the conquest of Juliers
and Cleves. The Brabanteers and Hollanders equally
offered to aid the cause by keeping the army of Spain
occupied. The Roman Catholics beheld, with some-
thing beyond inactive indignation, the power thus
accruing against them by the existence of the Evan-
gelical Union, and framed the plan of the Catholic
League to oppose them. The Bishop of Wurzburg
supported the plan, and the Bishops of the Empire
formed its principal members; but Maximilian, Duke of
Bavaria, was placed at the head of it.
The death of the Emperor Rudolph in 1612 opened The Em-
a new phase in the affairs of Germany, and, principally ^[°J
by the favour of the Protestants, his brother Matthias
was raised to the Imperial throne. They demanded
of the new sovereign, as the reward of their support,
unlimited religious toleration, and perfect equality of
rights between Catholics and Protestants. Upon a
refusal the deputies began without hesitation to levy
troops, Hungary was asked and consented to renew
their old alliance with the Protestants, and they set
themselves seriously to work to attain their demand
by force of arms. In the mean while the Emperor
held his first Diet at Ratisbon in 1613, and Matthias
was surprised by a new demand from his subjects,
who were then already in arms. The Roman Catholic
voters at the Diet were the more numerous, and could
therefore carry any question ; nevertheless, it was boldly
proposed by the Protestants, that henceforth no one
religious party was to be permitted to dictate to the
other by means of its invariable preponderancy. This
demand was of course rejected, and the Diet broke
up without coming to any decision.
16 i\ i lionrcTiox
Counl Before the death of Kudu]])]) 11., thai Emperor had
been induced, mainly, as lias been said, by the exertions
of ilif Count Thurn, to issue what was termed " a letter
of Majesty," that for a time calmed the Protestant
party in Bohemia. This Count Thurn was a con-
siderable proprietor, though not a native of that
kingdom; but he had been recognized as an influential
I >u] nilar leader, and the Emperor had conferred upon
him the place of Burgrave or Castellan of Calstein,
with the custody of the royal crown of the kingdom,
and of the national charter. The Boman Catholic
councillors of Matthias at this time induced His
Imperial Majesty to deprive Count Thurn of this
office ; and this act deeply wounded his vanity, and
roused in him a spirit of revenge. He had already
taken an active part in the troubles of the Bohemian
kingdom; and now an opportunity occurred of arousing
the Protestants of Bohemia against some act of the
government in the little town of Klostergrab, which
was declared to be in opposition to " the letter of
Majesty." The Emperor haughtily rejected the petition
presented to him, and pronounced the conduct of the pe-
titioners illegal and rebellious. Thurn therefore exerted
all his influence to make it what his sovereign had pro-
nounced it to be. On the 23rd May, 1618, under his
advice the people rose in revolt, and threw the Imperial
commissioners, Martinetz and Slawata, out of a very
lofty window of the Castle ; they then seized upon the
Imperial revenues, got the soldiers to enter into their
service, and summoned the entire Bohemian kingdom
to avenge the common laws. All Bohemia, with the
exception of only three towns, took part in the insur-
rection, and the heads of the Evangelical Union sup-
portedthe courage of the insurgents by promises of assist-
ance. Count Mansfeld (of whom more hereafter), who
had for some time commanded with repute the Spanish
army in the Netherlands, was found from private motives
ready to change his religion and his allegiance to aid any
INTRODUCTION. 17
opposition to the Emperor, and, having raised a force
of 4000 men in Germany, placed it at the disposal of
the Union, and forthwith carried it into Bohemia. The
Emperor sent two armies under Bucquoi and Dampierre
against the rebellion ; but Count Thurn appeared at
the head of another army out of Moravia to oppose
them : and these were the circumstances which pro-
duced the first conflict, that led to the Thirty Years'
War.
At this juncture the Emperor Matthias died, and Frederick,
was succeeded by his nephew Ferdinand, son of the pa^trn
Archduke Charles of Styria and Gratz, who is known made king
in history as the Emperor Ferdinand II. The Bohe- ofB°hemia.
mians and Hungarians repudiated his right of suc-
cession to the hereditary estates, and elected Frederick
the Elector Palatine to the Bohemian throne, and
Bethlem Gabor, an influential Protestant, to be King of
Hungary 3.
3 Compiled principally from Schiller's Histoi-y.
■4-
MAUBICE OF OBANGE-NASSAI7,
A NETHERLANDISH GENERAL.
Born 1567. Died 1625.
This great warrior falsified the proverb which says that Intro-
" the children of heroes are generally good for nothing ;" ductoiT-
for if Maurice did not equal his father in greatness of
soul, he surpassed him in the knowledge of war, and of
government. From his earliest childhood his ambition
was to take him for a model ; and it was his boyish fancy
to take for his device the trunk of a tree cut down,
from the root of which there grew a vigorous sprout,
with the motto " Tandem fit surculus arbor." Not
only was it natural in a son to desire to emulate a most
distinguished progenitor, but the desire of Maurice was
sharpened by a vindictive feeling against the enemy of
his house ; and that not only because Spain was the op-
pressor of his country, but also because King Philip II.
was so base as to reward the family of his lather's
c 2
20 MMIMii: OF OEAXGE-NASSAU.
murderer with the designation of Spanish nobility and
the grant of three lordships, over and above the pay-
ment of tin- price that had been set upon the head
of the Prince of Orange. The wretched assassin, it is
true, suHtTcd tin- penalty of his crime ; and the French,
when they conquered Franche-Comt£, in which his
dotation was situated, were such lovers of virtue as to
decree the forfeiture of the lands to the crown of France.
Birth and Maurice was the second son of the first "William of
E» •<K»- oran,,v_X assau, called the Silent, who was a Prince of
the ducal family of Nassau ; hut had received the ap-
panage of Orange, which distinguishes his line, from a
kinsman, a descendant from the ancient family of De
Chalons. The great founder of Batavian independence
having been forced to fly from his Belgic possessions, to
avoid the power of the Duke of Alva, had taken refuge
with his wife, Anna, daughter of the renowned Maurice,
I-] lector of Saxony, at the Castle of Dillenburg, the resi-
dence of his hrother, the Sovereign Count of Nassau ;
and here Maurice, Count of Orange-Nassau, was horn in
1584, and wras named after his celebrated Saxon grand-
father. He entered the world at the very moment that
his lather had made the sacrifice of all his wealth and
honours to the cause of liberty ; and he was destined to
be himself the builder and finisher of the immortal struc-
ture commenced, under so many adversities and disad-
vantages, by his truly immortal father. He had an elder
brother, Philip William (a godson of the King of Spain),
born from William's first wife, Anna, daughter of Count
Egmont ; but this youth had been seized in his tutor's
house at Louvain, while quietly prosecuting his studies at
that universitj^, by order of the ruthless Alva (as soon
as he had become apprised of William's flight), and had
been carried prisoner to Spain, where he languished for
thirty years. Maurice had just entered his eighteenth
year when his father was cruelly assassinated, at Delft,
by Balthazar Grerard, in 1584 ; but he had already been
remarked by those around him for courage and genius,
MAURICE OF ORANGE-NASSAU. 21
for he had studied at Heidelberg and Leyden, where
his intelligence had highly distinguished itself. He
had also entei-ed on his military studies in the field
under the eyes of his great father himself, and was
with him in his paternal house with his mother at the
time of that barbarous murder. During the lifetime
of his elder brother (who was released from his captivity
in 1595, but afterwards married and lived at Brussels,
where he died without children in 1618), Maurice was
never called otherwise than Count Maurice of Nassau,
but he assumed the title of Prince of Orange ' upon
his elder brother's death.
It can be well believed that the people of the revolted
Dutch provinces were filled with sorrow and consterna-
tion at being deprived of their mainstay and hope by
the death of the Prince of Orange. In their first de-
spondency, after the death of their Stadtholder, mis-
trusting the youth and inexperience of their own young
Prince, they had addressed themselves to England, and
offered the Sovereignty of the Provinces to Queen Eli-
zabeth. But that prudent Sovereign was too wise to Queen Eli-
risk a war with Spain for a province across the waters, ^^ a™~
and too honest to take any part in an intrigue against proffered
another's sceptre ; so that she had replied with dignity Sovereign-
to the ambassadors who were sent with the offer — United
" II ne seroit pour moi ni beau ni honnete de m'em- Provinces,
parer du bien d'autrui." They consequently turned,
en dernier resort, to the young son of the murdered
William, and Maurice was raised to the Stadtholder-
1 Orange is a city in the south of France, the capital of the
principality of that name, which was bestowed by Charlemagne,
as a reward for military services, on De Chalons, to be held by
him as a fief of the Comtes de Provence ; and was inherited by
the Nassau family through the marriage of Claude de Chalons
in the fifteenth century. It had been au important place in the
time of the Romans, by whom it was called Auransia, after the
yellow stone of which it was built ; of which word Orange is a
corruption, and it has no kind of reference to the fruit bearing
that name.
Sidnev.
22 \i.u Kit i: OP oLi.\\'.i:-\ \ss\r.
ate of Holland in 1586, before he was twenty years
of age. Be at once tuok the field against the Duke
of Parma, thru Governor-General of the Low Coun-
tries for the Bang of Spain, as Captain-General, and
Admiral el' th^ United Provinces.
Sir Philip In this quality one of the first acts of his duty was
to give the right hand of fellowship to our renowned
English hero. Sir Philip Sidney, who landed at Flush-
ing with the advance of Leicester's army this same
year. Hither came down Maurice in person to take
Sir Philip to his heart as a brother and a companion in
arms, and a warm friendship sprang up between these
eminent men. It would appear as if, in those early
days of regular armies, the Confederate contingents
undertook such operations as pleased them, without
combining them in any common system of strategy.
Accordingly we find Sir Philip, a young man of thirty,
and with no higher responsibility than Governor of
Flushing, scouring about the country to seek for ad-
ventures, and writing to Ids Commander-in-Chief to
send him up some thousands of footmen and horse, to
enable him to besiege Steenbergen, that he might make
the enemy raise the siege of Grave, held by a garrison
of Netherlander. Leicester, however, was not quite dis-
posed to gratify his young kinsman to this extent, and
was in his nature dilatory and luxurious, and utterly
incapable of directing a campaign ; indeed it must be
admitted that Sir Philip Sidney evinced much better
knowledge of the art of war than his General. He was,
however, confessedly acting altogether out of his com-
mission, without forethought or knowledge of circum-
stances : very like a dashing young man, but like all
such (of whom there are examples in every campaign),
more eager to gratify his own desire for personal dis-
tinction than to act in subordination to the General-
in-Chief. The Duke of Parma was far more than a
match for Leicester, or the young General of cavalry,
and. quietly biding his time, circumvented both, and
MAURICE OF ORANGE-NASSAU. 23
raised his flag upon the loftiest tower of Grave on the
7th of June. Count Maurice however now proposed
congenial employment for his friend Sidney, by asking Expedition
Leicester to send him in command of a detachment agamst
• Axel,
to assist him in the capture of Axel, a strong town m
Zeeland, a few miles from the southern bank of the
Scheldt. The Earl gave his assent, and sent up Sir
Philip with 3000 foot soldiers, under the personal
direction of Hohenlohe, Willoughby, and Hatton. In
the spirit of that day, the young chieftain, who was
brimful of every learned accomplishment, addressed to
his men " some true-hearted words," while they were
standing up to their knees in water, awaiting the signal
for attack. About two hours after midnight on the
6th of July this was given, and Sir Philip " would
needs have the first entry," so that, although in the
chief command, he jumped into the ditch, at the head
of some 30 or 40 men, and " swimming easily across
it," scaled the walls and opened the gates to the rest
of his followers. " This leading and entering of the
town was notably performed." About 600 men of the
" sleepy garrison " were slain by the sword or pushed
into the water, and the capture of Axel exalted the
character of the English army in the opinion of
Maurice and his Netherlander, and raised the renown
of Sir Philip Sidney.
In August, Sir Philip served under Leicester at
the reduction of Doesburg, which led to the field of
Zutphen, so glorious to the Confederate arms, but so
fatal to the rising glory of our young hero. On
Thursday, 22nd of September, 500 Englishmen, with
Sidney at their head, advanced under cover of a thick
fog to the very walls of the town, when the fog lifted,
and they found themselves in a very unexpected and
perilous situation. They saw 1000 horsemen drawn
up before them, and were themselves exposed to the
range of the guns from the ramparts, and to a heavy
fire of musketry from the advanced works. Very
21 MAURICE OX in; am;i:-NASSALt.
bravely they charged, but after an hour and a half's
hard fighting were constrained to retreat. Sidney's
horse was killed under him, and he was accordingly
placed in great danger. He promptly mounted a fresh
horse, and Bhared in a second charge with no better
result. He now was unfortunately persuaded hy Sir
William Pelhani, the lord-marshal of the camp, to
lighten himself of his armour, and with this ohject he
threw off his " cuisses." All the Englishmen that
could be collected (though scattered hy these ineffective
operations about the field) now united to make a third
onset, when a ball from a musket struck Sidney in the
leg above the knee, and shattering the bone lodged in
the upper thigh. He could not be prevailed upon to
dismount, but rode as he was to Leicester's tent, where,
being overcome with thirst, he called for some drink.
A bottle of water was brought him, but as he was
putting it to his mouth, he saw a private soldier setting
greedy eyes upon the coveted draught. Sidney, in a
chivalrous disinterested spirit, handed the flask to the
soldier, with the memorable words, " Thy necessity is yet
greater than mine." It does not appear that amputa-
tion was attempted ; nevertheless it was more than a
fortnight before mortification set in, and it was twenty-
five days subsequent to the wound that one of the
purest and noblest spirits that ever animated human
flesh passed away from earth to heaven 2.
Count Maurice was for a considerable period rather
disturbed than assisted by the English auxiliary force
under the Earl of Leicester, whose haughty conduct,
intolerable pride, and unmeasured ambition, did the
States more mischief than the money he brought with
him, or the troops that he commanded, did them ser-
vice. Leicester, being at the head of an armed force,
assumed the state which he coveted, and was himself
indeed fain to have accepted the Sovereignty which
: .Motley.
MAURICE OP OBANGE-FASSAir. 25
they tendered even to him ; but when, however, this
came to the ears of his imperious Mistress, it brought
down upon him a rebuke that he dared not despise, and
awakened the minds of the Hollanders to the claims
of that son of their own, who proved himself more
capable than any Englishman or Frenchman to save
them in their dire necessity.
Maurice came now, however, to be pitted against the Antwerp
renowned Alexander Farnese, Duke de Parma, the to the Duke
victor of the battle of Lepanto, and the saviour of of Parma.
Paris. Unopposed for a season, this concpieror overran
the Netherlands. In 1585 he set down before the
forts Lillo and Liefkenshoek on the Scheldt, which he
stormed and carried by the aid of a high wind, which
overpowered the garrison with the smoke of some
wet hay. He also got possession of Ghent and
Dendennonde, but he was forced to raise the siege of
Lille. Antwerp, however, still held out, and the Dutch
endeavoured to throw in supplies, but at length it like-
wise was forced to surrender to the Spaniards.
The destruction of the great Spanish Armada by the Destruc-
Ensdish in 1588 infused new hopes into all the enemies t.10n °, the
° . r Armada en -
of Spain, and animated the Dutch with such courage, courages
that Maurice led his army against that of the Duke of tue Dutch.
Parma, and forced him to raise the siege of Bergen-op-
Zoom,at that time garrisoned by a portion of Leicester's
army, under the command of Sir Francis Vere. This
brave commander, who had given such fame to her
army, that true courage might not want its due re-
ward, had just received from the hands of Lord Wil-
loughby the honour of knighthood, which the Queen
had ordered him to confer. The young Stadtholder
was induced by this success to surprise the Castle of
Blyenbeck, which was yielded to his arms in 1589 ;
and the following year he got possession of Breda by a
ruse de guerre, which did not cost any effusion of
blood. The manner in which the castle was surprised
evinced some ability. The garrison was supplied with
2G
MM KICK OF ORANGE-NASSAU.
turf for firing by a boatman, who was persuaded to
stow away below tfhe turf about 70 soldiers. It was
extremely cold weather, and the garrison welcomed
with joy the fresh Bupply of fuel. By this means the
men entered the town, and after dark opened the gates
to their comrades, who were Led in by Maurice himself,
accompanied by Prince Hohenlohe, and Sir Francis
\ ere, who, entering the castle, obtained the keys from
The Duke Lanza Neechia, the governor. The Duke of Parma was
raoceeded" ""U' recaJled from the Low Countries into France, and
by the tlie old Peter Ernest, Count de Mansfeld, succeeded
Count de to the government of the Low Countries. The old
Miinsfold. it,!
general one day remarked to a trumpeter who had
been sent in with a message from the Dutch army,
that he admired their master, who was a young Prince
full of heat and courage. " His Excellency," said the
trumpeter, " was a young Prince, it was true ; but he
was one who desired to become one day such an old
and experienced general as His Excellency of Mans-
feld."
Capture of Maurice defeated the Spanish army in the open field
hvEii," ;lt Caervorden> and took Nimeguen and Zutphen. Our
' countrymen, under Sir Francis Vere, obtained the latter
place by the following stratagem: he dressed several
young soldiers, whose complexions were thoroughly
English, in the costume of the peasant women of those
parts, and gave them baskets and packs to cany as if
passing in to market ; but under their female garments
each man carried arms. They were sent in by twos
and twos, with directions where to assemble; they
were to sit down at a ferry, as if waiting for the ferry-
boat. This happened to be near a fort, the possession
of which would greatly facilitate the capture of the
town, and the gate of which was customarily opened
for the marketers. Accordingly, on they all rushed
together ; and a well-timed support of 200 men, who
were all ready, speedily ran up to their assistance, and
carried the fort, 'flics, successes added greatly to the
MAUEICE OF OKAXGE-SASSAU. 27
reputation of Count Maurice, who now made consider-
able progress, so that in the year 1591 the Dutch saw
their frontiers extended, and had well-grounded hopes of
driving the Spaniards out of Friesland in another cam-
paign. The original appointment of Stadtholder, as it
had been conferred on Maurice and his illustrious father,
was only an office in the province of Holland ; but as
the territory became extended by other provinces join-
ing in the revolt, the same office was conferred on
Maurice by all. It strictly meant Lieutenant, or
Governor, under a King : and was employed in this
contest to imply at the first that the Provinces re-
volted against the Duke of Alva, and not against King
Philip.
The death of the Prince of Parma delivered the Con- Maurice
federates from a formidable adversary : but old Count takes Ger-
T Vll YTl fll «
Mansfeld, at the head of an army of 30,000 men, took berg,
the field against them. Maurice, however, in 1593, not-
withstanding this cowering force, sat down before Ger-
truydenberg, advantageously situated on the frontier of
Brabant. In order to prevent any disturbance from
the Spanish army, the town was surrounded by a very
strong line of circumvallation, and a considerable fleet
of gunboats was brought up into the Meuse. By
means of this water communication, the besiegers were
supplied with every thing recmisite for a siege. While
this was in progress, a spy was caught carrying de-
spatches from the Governor to the General. Maurice
made him pass through his fines under circumstances
opportunely placed for his observation, and his report
evidently deterred Mansfeld from attempting any in-
terruption ; and the town surrendered. With the use-
ful aid of Sir Francis Vere and the English, Maurice
afterwards took Gronenburg and Grave, which formed
part of his own patrimony.
The Duke of Parma was succeeded in the government
of the Netherlands by the Archduke Albert, a younger
son of the Emperor Maximilian, who was married to
2S M.WKICE OF OltAXUE-NASSAU.
[sabella, daughter of King Philip. Maurice was, how-
ever, again successful against (she Spaniards at Turnhout
in 1597; in consequence of which many strong places
surrendered to him Before the end of the campaign.
Eere he defeated and slew the Count de Varax, Lord de
Balancon, and captured 2000 prisoners. Maurice had
their arms and banners hung up in the great Hall of
Council at the 1 [ague. It happened that he received in
this apartment at this period an anihassador of Sigis-
mund, King of Poland, who had been sent at the instiga-
tion of the Spanish King to frighten the Hollanders into
submission hy high-sounding words and threatenings,
" according to the eloquence of his nation;" hut the
Stadtholder, without using many words, showed him the
trophies of his victory. He admitted that it was new
to him to learn that the King of Spain was not alto-
gether invincible.
Death and The death of Philip II. in 1598 freed Holland from
ofPhilinll a ruthless tyrant, and the house of Orange from its
bitterest enemy. This sovereign wras a man of
very great ability, and a monarch of immense Euro-
pean influence. He united the whole of the Peninsula
under his sceptre, and added the treasures of the
Western to those of the Eastern world. The com-
mercial acquisitions to Spain at this period embraced
the circuit of the globe, and realized the proud boast
that has long since passed away from the Catholic
King, that the sun never set on the dominions of
Spain. The haughty monarch, despairing of reducing
the Low Countries to obedience, and affecting an
accommodation, that he might die in peace, transferred
the Sovereignty to his daughter Isabella, who accord-
ingly wrote to the States, entreating them not to
refuse submission to their own Princess. But the
States returned no reply, being resolved to complete
the independence for which they had so long struggled.
Accordingly, in 1599, Albert and Isabella established
an interdict between all the Spanish dominions and the
MAURICE OF ORANGE-HASSAU.
29
Dutch Provinces, in order to destroy the trade of that
eminently commercial people.
The war therefore was continued with spirit. In
1601 Maurice had obtained some valuable reinforce-
ments to his army from the German and Swiss mer-
cenaries, who had been disbanded by the French king
on his making peace with Spain. But, on the other
hand, the Spanish army was much augmented by fresh
levies out of Spain, Italy, and Germany. The States
were bent on opening the campaign with some brilliant
operation, and it was resolved to besiege Dunkirk. Siege of
The Archduke resolved to disturb the siege, and with by Mau.'
this view marched at the head of 10,000 infantry and rice.
1600 horse : but he found the enemy in position at
Nieuport, ready and eager to come to an engagement.
On this occasion Maurice did an act, which, bold and
somewhat rash in appearance, was in its consequences
one of great wisdom, and admirably suited to the very
critical emergency in which he and his army were
placed at this juncture. He sent away the whole fleet
of vessels that had hitherto accompanied his march, and
by this expedient made his followers sensible that they
could now have no choice between victory, or captivity,
or death. The enemy was already in sight ; and it
was clear that, if they should be defeated, retreat was
altogether impossible. He then rode down to his
army, and thus addressed them : " My friends ! we
must now either fall instantly and with all our power
upon the enemy, or be driven into the sea. Take your
choice : mine is already made. I will either conquer
by your valour, or I will never survive the disgrace of
being beaten by troops who will despise us." This
address, spoken with earnestness and confidence, and
with great dignity, had a remarkable and salutary
effect upon the troops, which was very much assisted
by a few words afterwards addressed to them by an
admiral, who good-humouredly told the men : " If we
do not overcome the enemy, we must chink up all the
30 \i u rice Of "if \\(;i:-v\ssur.
water of the sea, for there is no way <A' our escaping
from hence unless we could march away by the dry
bed of the ocean." Maurice thought to hold the post
at Leffingen, by which the Archduke would be obliged
to advance ; and he placed Ernest of Nassau, with
some Zeelanders, Sir Francis Vere and the Scotch, and
four pieces of cannon, with artillery to defend the post.
The Spaniards were checked by this daring attempt to
stop them, and awaited the coming up of their whole
army, when they fell upon the devoted detachment.
But, by their resolute bearing, the Scotch and Dutch
maintained their ground, and, when forced to retire,
fell orderly back, after inflicting a loss of 900 men
upon the enemy. The Dutch army were now formed
upon the sandhills, with their cavalry on either flank.
Louis de Nassau commanded the centre ; and Sir
Francis Vere, with 4000 English and Scotch, was
on the line. A little before the fight there was a dispute
of honour between the young Prince Henry Frederick
and his brother Maurice, who desired his cadet, as a mere
stripling of seventeen years of age, to retire from the
field, that in case of misfortune he might be left to
defend his country and his family. But the brave youth
resisted, and said he would run the same fortune with
Maurice, and live or die with him. For two hours the
artillery on either side preluded the combat, during
which the Admiral of Arragon endeavoured to lead the
Spanish cavalry by a narrow way between the sand-
hills and the sea, seeking to turn the right of the
Dutch position. But Maurice turned his guns upon
him with such effect, that, aided by the fire of the
musketeers from the heights, he completely frustrated
that attempt. The infantry now engaged along the
whole line, pike to pike, and sword to sword, in close
personal conflict. The Dutch left wing at one moment
faltered ; but they recovered their ground, and then
never yielded an inch. At length they forced back
both the wings of the Spanish army opposed to them,
MAURICE OF ORANGE-NASSAU. 31
and some weakness was apparent in the line, at sight
of which Maurice sent forward Sir Francis Vere, and
placed himself at the head of all his cavalry, while a
body of Swiss that was in reserve moved to the front.
These troops broke through the enemy's centre, and
the rout was complete. A ciy of " Victory " was
immediately raised along the whole Dutch line. The
Admiral of Arragon, Maestro del Campo, was captured,
with many other commanders, and all the cannon and
baggage. The Archduke's pages were included in the
number taken, but Count Maurice sent them all back
without ransom. Both the Archduke and the Duke
d'Aumale were wounded in the fight. On tbe side of
the victors the brave Lord-Marshal (as Sir F. Vere was
now called) was wounded in two places, and had a
horse killed under him.
This battle was fought on July 2nd, the anniversary
of a day that 300 years before had been fatal to the
German Emperor of the Nassau family, who had lost
his life and empire near Spire, in a battle against
Albert of Austria ; so that it was hailed as avenging
the disgrace against another Albert of the same house.
The victory was commemorated at the Hague by a
grandiose inscription in Latin, purporting that Mau-
rice " in Flandriam terram hospitem traducto exercito
cum Alberto Austrian conflixit — copias ejus cecidit,
duces multos primumque Mendozam ccepit, reversus ad
suos victor, signa hostium centum quinque in Hagiensi
Capitolis suspendit Deo Bellatori3."
3 " Some 24 prisoners had been captured by tbe Austrians,
and were taken away with them, among whom was one Hazle-
wood, an Englishman. The Archduke, vexed perhaps at his
defeat, ordered eight of these men to be hanged, in retaliation
of a like sentence that had been passed upon the same number
of his own people. The English soldier had the good fortune
to escape the lot ; but, seeing one of his companions in danger
exhibiting the strongest symptoms of horror and fright when
it came to his turn to put his hand into the helmet, John Bull
offered to stand the chance for it upon payment down of twelve
32 MAURICE OF ORANGE-NASSAU.
Count Maurice had not only been victorious over
the Spaniards by land, hut he had also had some
singular good fortune at sea, where his officers had
picked up many of the ships and galleons, that had
been scattered, belonging to the Spanish Armada.
A short time previously Dunenworde, Lord of Var-
mont, had acted with the fleet under the Earl of Essex
in taking the town of Cales, and burning the Spanish
fleet there ; and another Dutch Admiral, Peter Van-
derdoes, had made a descent upon the Canary Isles,
and taken considerable booty.
Capture of Nieuport surrendered to Maurice twelve days after
Dunkirk,' the battle ; and he resolutely persevered with the siege
ami Hois 1c of Dunkirk, which was also surrendered to him : and
being now master of the situation, he undertook the
sieges of Khinberg and Bois le Due, making Ostend his
place d'armes and base of operations. This career of
victory was indeed of the first importance to the States,
for a reverse at this juncture might have been followed
by the utter loss of the liberties and independence of
the young Republic. It has been questioned whether
Maurice would not have done better if he had followed
closely upon the Archduke's army after his victory at
Nieuport, since, as reinforcements were coming up to
Albert, he was ready to take the field again with forces
superior to those of his adversary ; but his Flemish
Council urged him to advance upon Ostend, and to em-
ploy his whole strength in depriving the Dutch of this
useful port of the sea, which so much disadvantaged
their position.
Siege of The siege of Ostend is one of the most remarkable
events of the military history of the century, which it
crowns. The offer was accepted; but Hazlewood had the
good fortune to escape a second time. Upon being called a
fool, fop 80 presumptuously tempting fate, he replied, 'that he
considered that he had acted upon the calculations of wisdom ;
for as he daily hazarded his life for sixpence, he must be deemed
to have made a good venture of it for twelve crowns.' " — Icon
Animorum.
Ostend.
MAUEICE OF OBANGE-NASSAF. 33
may be said to have inaugurated. It commenced on
the 11th July, 1601. The town was much more con-
siderable in extent and importance at this period than
it has ever been since ; and its proximity to the sea,
with the command of dykes and sluices, which were
retained within the works, rendered it a place of consi-
derable strength. A garrison was now placed in it, con-
sisting of all the English and Scotch who had so greatly
distinguished themselves in the battle of Nieuport, and
the charge of the place was entrusted to Sir Francis
Vere, the Lord-Marshal, as Governor. The sea was
kept by the vigilance of De la Mark with his Gueux-
marins, aided by some English vessels of war, which
allowed of the fortress being continually provisioned
and supplied with every thing needful, while it facili-
tated a continual supply of fresh troops to the garrison.
By these means the siege was prolonged for the extra-
ordinary period of three and a half years ; 80,000 men
are said to have perished in it ; treasures to the amount
of more than two millions were expended in it : so that
when taken at last it seemed rather a cemetery than a
city. It was the turning-point of the war.
The approaches of the besieged were disputed with
great valour, until at length the Spaniards were enabled
to raise batteries, which not only commanded the de-
fences of the place, but plunged upon the harbour, so
that the shipping could no longer lie there, and an
attempt was made to get the command of the sea, and
to starve the town into submission. To counteract this
effect upon the sea defences, the besieged made an inner
basin, which the fire of the besiegers could not reach.
They also caused the dykes to be cut and the sluices to
be opened, which let in such a body of water upon the
earthworks of the Spaniards, as flooded and washed
them down. The besiegers therefore began to dam up
with incredible labour the broken embankments, and to
convey the guns and troops along their summit ; and
by their exertions new platforms were placed and fresh
g l MAURICE OF OBANGE-NASSATJ.
guns placed in battery, when a furious bombardment,
that was heard at London, opened upon the roofs and
belfries of tbe devoted town. The brave Lord-Marshal
was wounded in the early part of the siege by the burst-
in-- of a gun, and was under tbe necessity of quitting
his post, and of removing to Zeeland for surgical treat-
ment ; but he soon returned to bis command, and in
December repulsed an attempt made to surprise his
ramparts, with tbe loss of 500 men of his garrison.
In January, 1604, the besiegers, having collected a
great force of artillery and troops, opened such a fire,
that 2200 shot are said to have fallen in one day ; and
under this fire a furious assault was made, which was
driven back with complete success.
At the end of eight months, the heroic Governor,
finding his men quite worn out with the continual
harass and toil of watching and fighting, requested
leave for himself and his men to withdraw from the
garrison, and by the Stadtholder's permission the Lord-
Marshal gave over the govenorship to Colonel Frederick
Dorp, a Dutchman, in March, 1602. When the Eng-
lish and Scotch quitted Ostend there was scarcely a
house left standing in it ; and 163,200 shot were said
to have fallen in the town and port. The besieged are
said to have established a singular force to aid the
defence, termed Lopers. They were soldiers armed
with a long pike, having a flat head at the nether end
thereof, to prevent it from sinking too deep into the
mud ; they were also armed with a harquebuse hung in
a scarf, a coutelas at their side, and they carried a dagger
suspended from the neck. These men, selected for
their agility, could leap over a ditch twenty-four feet
broad, where no horseman could overtake them, using
their lance as a pole, and instantly having recourse to
their fire-arms when safe across. They are said to have
proved exceedingly harassing to the besiegers. Sir
Francis Yere proved himself an excellent officer, and
an admirable governor of a besieged fortress. He had
MAUEICE OF ORANGE-NASSAU. 35
learned his art well, as is proved by his "Commentaries,"
written by himself, which are even still deserving of the
study of military men. He was held by Queen Eliza-
beth to be "the worthiest Captain of her time."
As the siege proceeded, Count Maurice exerted him-
self to get together a powerful army in the field, to
force the Archduke to raise it. But, although he was
not successful in effecting this result, he made the
undertaking so onerous, that the Viceroy got disgusted
with the task, and giving up the command in the
field to Rivales, one of the generals under him,
withdrew to Brussels to consult his counsellors as to
the devising of new measures for accomplishing the
reduction of Ostend ; an enterprise on which his wife,
the Archduchess Isabel, " the only man of her family,"
was so set, that she vowed not to change her garments
until success had crowned the endeavour. The hue
known as " Isabel-colour," which is somewhat of a dirty
yellow, was so named from the shade acquired by the
smock of the Spanish Princess in the long period
during which the siege of Ostend lasted. The ladies
of her Court afterwards made the colour fashionable by
their adoption of it, as a delicate attention to their
devoted mistress. In a military point of view, the
siege had already attracted officers of all nations, who
came to study the arts by which the town was de-
fended, and the expedients on either side, in illustration
of the attack and defence of strong places. The
mighty earthworks which the Spaniards raised, although
in later times vastly exceeded by those of the Russians,
became a perfect school for the engineers of all nations.
When the siege had endured to 1603, the Spanish Ostend sur-
fleet off the port, under the command of Don Frederick renclers-
Spinola, unable to endure the discredit of allowing the
vessels of the Grueux to keep the sea, resolved to attack
the vessels of Zeeland lying in the haven of Sluys, and
went in against them with eight galleys and some vessels
of war. A smart engagement ensued, in which Frederick
D 2
3G MAURTCE OF OKAXGE-NASSAU.
Spinola was slain, and his fleet was so ill handled that
it was constrained to take refuge under the cannon
of the town, which was held by the Spanish forces.
Maurice accordingly sat down before the foi*tress, with
a view to distract the attention of the besiegers at
Ostend. But the King of Spain, intent upon its re-
duction, lavished the treasures of Peru and Mexico in
the formation of a new army, the command of which
he entrusted to the celebrated Genoese nobleman, the
Marquis Spinola, brother of the Admiral who had been
lately slain. The superior military qualifications of
this renowned General speedily changed the face of
affairs at the siege. He soon proved that no fortifica-
tion, however strong, or however well defended, is im-
pregnable when the skill of the engineer is seconded
by the energy and operation of a disciplined force.
The advanced posts of the besieged were at once driven
in behind their works ; roads were constructed across
the inundations on fascines ; and not only were more
powerful batteries formed, but their destructive power
was augmented by the employment of mines. The
bastions soon crumbled under this combined agency ;
the earthworks were shaken to their foundations, until
the ramparts became utterly shattered and indefensible.
General Marquette, a Flemish General of reputation,
had now succeeded to the post of Governor. The
garrison was exhausted with the incessant demand
that the long siege had made upon their morale ; their
comforts were sensibly diminished, since the blockade by
land had been accompanied by a similar effort from the
sea-board, and the port had become closed against all
friendly assistance, so that the Governor saw that he
could neither defend the ramparts nor abandon the
place : under these circumstances he offered to capitu-
late. Spinola was too rejoiced at the prospect of obtain-
ing for the King, his master, an object so much desired
by him, and offered the most favourable terms. The
garrison was allowed to march out with all the honours
MAURICE OF OKANGE-NASSAU. 37
of war, and permitted to join Count Maurice at Sluys,
of which place he had obtained possession a few weeks
previously. It was not a little to the surprise and
astonishment of the Spaniards, when 4000 men in
perfect condition marched out of Ostend on 22nd
September, 1605, and, with drums playing and colours
flying, passed through their ranks, not with the air of
a defeated force, but with all the pride, pomp, and cir-
cumstance of soldiers prepared for action. The States
were justly proud of their army, and were consoled
for the loss of Ostend by the acquisition that their
Stadtholder had made of Sluys, Kienbach, and Grave :
and to commemorate the circumstance they caused a
medal to be struck, with this inscription, — " Jehova
plus dederat quam perdimus."
Spinola was now recalled to Spain *, to advise the The Dutch
King as to the best means to be employed against his navi s^c~
revolted Provinces ; for His Majesty was more than ever copes with
resolved by this success to employ some plan of conquest. *na* of
By the will of Philip II. they were to revert to Spain if
fche Archduke left no issue ; and the Infanta had been
now long married, and no hope of children remained to
her. Philip III. therefore regarded the Netherlands still
as an appanage of Spain, and thought that the power of
the Old and New World combined could effect this ob-
ject. Spinola gave it as his opinion that it was next to
impossible to make successful war against a country so
rich in water-defences as Holland, and with so many
strongly fortified towns and fortresses, and deemed it
preferable to take them in reverse by an advance from
the side of Guelderland, which was more readily ac-
cessible to the Royal armies. New levies were accord-
ingly raised in Italy and Spain, and Spinola was nomi-
4 Maurice very nearly obtained possession of the person of his
renowned antagonist, as he passed on his way through Paris, by
the means of some of the free companies who kept the country
on that side.
3S MAU1UCE OF OKANGE-NASSAI
Dated again to the command in chief. The States saw
their impending danger, and prepared to provide against
it. Maurice had well measured the peculiar talents of
his adversary, and counselled that a policy purely de-
fensive should he adopted for the campaign hy land,
hut that great exertions should he made hy sea, The
Dutch marine force had become so respectable, that it
was quite a match for that of Spain whenever they
might meet ; and accordingly, independently of the
defence of their own coast, they fitted out a fleet under
Admiral Heemskirk to attack a fleet of Spanish ships
and galleons in the Bay of Gibraltar, commanded by
Admiral Davila, in 1607. The Castilian, like the famous
Goliath of Gath, proud of his strength and superior
might, looked down with contempt upon the Gueux in
their little galleys, and inquired of a Dutchman whom
he had made prisoner, " what they were coming there
for ? " " To fall upon your fleet in an instant."
" They can scarcely be so mad," said the confident
Davila, " for my single flagship is sufficient to crush
their entire flotdla." However, on came Heemskirk,
but at the first shot a cannon-ball carried away his
legs, and he died, ordering, with his last breath, that
the attack should be persevered in. His commands
were fulfilled ; the great unwieldy men-of-war were
driven upon the rocks, and foundered on every side.
Count Maurice, with the home fleet, made, about the
same time, a bold attempt against Antwerp, but was
thwarted by a dreadful tempest, that destroyed forty
vessels of his armament, and in which he very nearly
perished himself. The King of Spain, enraged at these
naval expeditions, ordered that the Dutch should
every where be regarded as pirates, and that any pri-
soners that might be taken should be hung. Mau-
rice accordingly sent Admiral Hautain into the Tagus,
with orders to give no quarter to the Spaniards. The
severe reprisals that occurred on either side were sad
enough, and made men desperate. Vice-Admiral
MAUEICE OF OEAXOE-NASSAU. 39
Klaazon found himself beset in bis single sbip by
four Spanish vessels. His mainmast was carried away,
and his hull was riddled with cannon-shot, when, find-
ing he had nothing left but to surrender, he blew him-
self up with all his crew, and by the same act com-
mitted fearful damage upon his assailants.
Maurice, at the head of the Dutch army, protected The United
the country from all the endeavours of Spinola to oc- b ^T"^ .
cupy it ; and every stratagem of war was exhausted by dependent,
these two great masters of the art. The expenses of
the war became too heavy even for the masters of the
wealth of the New World. The Spanish commerce was
seriously checked and impaired by the Dutch marine,
and the lack of silver rendered it impossible even for Spi-
nola, whose great masterwork of command was the regu-
lar pay of his troops, to keep the soldiers to their colours.
They broke into open mutiny for want of pay ; and
the great Genoese nobleman, shocked and disgusted at
such a condition of things, counselled the Spanish
King to peace ; representing to him the impracticability
of conquering a people so resolved to be independent ;
and proving to His Majesty that it was better policy
to give repose to his people under the quiet possession
of a considerable province, rich and populous, than to
sacrifice every thing to recover seven poor and distant
States which would never repay the trouble of retaining
them. Such doctrine was, however, new and unpa-
latable to the haughty Spaniard. But the opinion of
the General was supported by the diplomacy of friendly
powers ; and the King's consent was extorted by these
means to open negotiations with the Dutch Kepubhc
as an independent State. The first conferences having
this object were held at the Hague in 1607, at which
envoys from England and France assisted. These
Ambassadors, high-born and high-bred, were, it is
stated, thrown aback on witnessing the arrival of the
deputies from the Seven United Provinces. Seven
men with long beards were seen to disembark from a
galley, and prepared to take, in the open air, a repast
MAUBICE Of OBANGE-NASSAU.
of bread and cheese, and beer. " Ah !" exclaimed these
refined plenipotentiaries ; " if these are the men with
whom we have to do, ' il nous taut l'aire la paix ; jamais
on ne pourra sorvaincre de tels gens.' ' However, if
such, as has been recorded, was the first impression
of the Spanish negotiators, they soon found it to
be true, for it was as impossible to overcome them
in argument as in the field, since in 1G09 they
were still disputing the details of a treaty, when
the two commanders of the armies arrived at the
Hague.
The country was, in fact, not so much at one in
their wishes and opinions as in their humble fare.
Two parties divided the leading men of Holland at this
period, distinguished as all men every where were at
the juncture by different religious opinions; these were
known as Gomarists and Arminians. The latter was
headed by the Grand Pensionary Barncveldt, around
whom rallied all the most austere republicans. The
former was that of Maurice himself. Barneveldt's
party had become jealous and suspicious of the
Stadtholder's military reputation, and were desirous
of peace, as a means of checking the influence of his
glory. The Orange faction, on the other hand, was as
eager, from the same motives, to continue the war.
Maurice therefore threw every obstacle in the way of
an accommodation. But the high reputation of Bar-
neveldt for virtue and honesty, and the great con-
fidence in his wisdom, which had been shown in the
ample means by which, in his high office, he had aided
the victories of the Republic, and now counselled time
and repose for consolidating their liberties, and recover-
ing then* country, so thoroughly exhausted as it was
by the war, prevailed at length ; and the negotiations
continued. Barneveldt at the very first sitting refused
to treat at all, unless Spain consented in express terms
to recognize Holland, — as composed of the Seven
United Provinces, — as an independent State, to whom
should be freely granted the commerce of the Indies.
MAUKICE OF OEANGE-NASSAF. 41
on the footing of other foreign nations ; together with
the assurance, that the people should be left in the
undisputed possession of religious liberty. The Spanish
negotiators hesitated to concede these preliminary con-
ditions, until James I. of England and Henry IV. of
France intimated that they would withdraw from the
Hague unless the Dutch showed more moderation. At
length a cessation of arms, known as the Truce of
Treves, was concluded for twelve years, during which
period territories on either side were to be respected,
and commerce was to continue on the old footing.
The Stadtholder appeared in public to be reconciled to
the Pensionary by the attainment of this great national
victory, but in his heart he did not pardon the oppo-
sition that he felt persuaded was directed against him-
self and the ambitious designs that he might have been
conscious that he entertained. Every free country that
was ever constituted is divided into at least two parties.
In general they are composed of those who are content
with the existing state of things, and of those who de-
sire change. The Gomarists and Arminians were not
exactly divided by any political opinion. They were,
in their past existence, followers of two professors of
Leyden, on some abstract notions of theology. But
they had now degenerated into more mundane divisions.
The cessation of the war permitted all classes to range
themselves under the one or other category, and the
zeal of partisans blazed forth in every kind of vitupe-
ration against each other. The Arminians, who were
painted as the secret friends and emissaries of Spain,
resolved on opposing the great house of Orange-Nassau ;
on the other hand Maurice went through all the Pro-
vinces to denounce the Truce, which he endeavoured to
show would be ruinous to their commerce, and that
Holland when impoverished, as it would be by the loss
of their wealth, would be made easily to succumb to
the Spaniards. Libels, condemning Barneveldt as the
machinator of the Truce, were anonymously circulated
42 MAIKICK OF OHANGE-NASSAU.
to raise a prejudice against the Pensionary, and to
destroy his influence. In the mean while Barneveldt
used his utmost exertions to secure puhlic liberty, and
to establish a national militia to uphold it. Maurice
stood up for the maintenance of the regular army, who
had so well served the country. At length it was
necessary to settle these differences, and the Stadt-
holder chose to base the remedy upon the religious
rather than the political phase, and exerted all his
influence to call a national Synod. Barneveldt opposed
this step with all his might. In spite of him, how-
ever, the Synod was called, which assembled at the
town of Dordrecht in 1618.
Proceed- " The Synod of Dort " is a marked event in the his-
ings of the £Q 0f ^e jj0W Countries. It was attended by the
©vnod or J . . J
Dort. most eminent divines of the Seven Provinces, and by
deputies from the Protestant churches of England,
Scotland, Switzerland, and Germany. The Arminian
side was defended by Grotius, Vossius, and other
learned men. But the Gomarists prevailed, and it
was carried that all who professed Arminian opinions
should be banished. The Stadtholder was now master
of the situation, and he was prepared to use his power
as those who have been great military leaders have
often been seen to do before his time and since. His
ambition, and the fear of losing power, rendered him
arbitrary and tyrannical. He knew Barneveldt to be
opposed to him, and regarded him as a personal qpemy,
whom without any compunction he resolved to re-
move out of his path. As chief of the State, he
took upon himself to carry into effect the decision
of the Synod ; but it was not enough for his object to
relieve himself of the presence of Barneveldt ; he de-
termined to avail himself of the powers confided to him
to destroy him and his friends. He added deceitful-
ness to cruelty in the consummation of his hatred and
revenge. On his return to the Hague, he invited
Barneveldt, Grotius,. and others, to a conference at the
MAUEICE OF OKANGE-NASSATT. 43
Palace upon affairs of State ; and there he accused
them of high treason for their language in the Synod,
and for the course they had adopted towards him on
the questions of the army and militia, and in organi-
zing an opposition against him among the States : and
without further notice he had them arrested, and com-
mitted them to prison in the Castle of Loevenstein.
The States-General demanded that they should he
remitted to them for trial on whatever charges were
made against them ; and the family of Barneveldt
urged the advanced age, the long services, and the
virtues of the Grand Pensionary as reasons to justify
his release from close imprisonment. For all reply
Maurice named a commission of twenty-four members
of the States-General to inquire into the charges ; but
these were recognized as being, to a man, calumniators
and enemies of the accused. The Synod reassembled
of its own accord to stay proceedings ; but the Armi-
nians being all proscribed and banished, those who
were disposed from other considerations than doctrinal
ones to befriend the accused were powerless and inti-
midated-. The Commission decreed that all the pri-
soners should be consigned to death for " vexing the
Church of God." De Maurier, the French ambassador,
interfered with energy to stay the iniquitous sentence ;
and it is said that Maurice so far relented at his en-
treaties, as to require that the family of Barneveldt
should petition for his pardon. But as this might be
construed to admit his guilt, they nobly replied " that
they would sooner that he should perish in innocence,
than that his life should be preserved with the stain of
guilt and dishonour upon it." The veteran Barne-
veldt, at seventy-two years of age, who had served his
country in the cabinet with the same ability that
Maurice had shown in the field, — whose prudent and
patriotic character had been the pride and admira-
tion of his contemporaries, — was, without further ado,
brought to a scaffold erected in the courtyard of the
it MAURICE OF ORANGE-NASSAU.
Palace, and, as has been said, before the very eyes of
the Stadtholder, was executed as a common malefactor.
The last few words addressed to his countrymen were :
— " Fellow-citizens, bebeve me I am no traitor to my
country. — A patriot have I lived ; and a patriot I die."
His death took place in 1G19.
The sons of Barneveldt, seeing the general unpopu-
larity that attended this illegal act of the Stadtholder,
and resting on the gross injustice of their father's sen-
tence, entered unhappily into a conspiracy, and raised
the standard of revolt. But having failed to incite the
people, they were arrested, brought to trial, and con-
demned to death. The widow of Barneveldt was in-
duced personally to solicit from the Stadtholder the
pardon of her children. But when Maurice expressed
surprise that she did for her sons what she had for-
borne to do for their father, the heroic mother replied
with indignation, — " I would not crave a pardon for
my husband, because he was innocent. I ask it for
my sons, because I know them to have been guilty."
The sentence passed on G-rotius at the same time with
the Grand Pensionary was commuted to imprisonment
for life. But by the ingenuity of his wife he succeeded
in making his escape from the Castle of Loevenstein
concealed in a chest of books, in which he was safely
carried away ; and he survived more than thirty years,
to add to his fame and usefulness in the world.
Death of It was during these events that Philip William of
l^i 'i* "Y\r*l
.. _ Ip„ " Orange-Nassau, the elder brother of Maurice, died,
ham of °
Orange- After having been detained a close prisoner for more
Isassau. than thirty years in Spain, Philip II., who was his
godfather, either moved by compassion, or hoping that
his deliverance might create divisions and jealousies
among the brothers of the family, released him. Mau-
rice, however, behaved most liberally towards him, and
let him enjoy without question all the family estates
which were still in their possession ; and the King of
Spain restored to him those which had been confis-
MAURICE OP OEANGE-NASSATT. 45
cated. He received little education in Spain but the
Catholic faith, and being new and strange to every thing
in Holland, he took up his residence at Brussels, having
married Eleanor de Bourbon, Princess de Conde, by
whom he had no children. This marriage with the
first princess of France put him in possession of the
principality and town of Orange. He was subject to
great violence of temper ; and when, in Spain, the
captain who guarded him spoke disrespectfully of his
great father, he instantly seized him, and threw him
out of a window, and broke his neck by the fall. The
council were puzzled what course to pursue towards
this princely prisoner, but in the end resolved to look
over the offence, and to construe the encounter indul-
gently. He and his wife both died in the same year,
1618, when Maurice took upon himself the quality of
Prince of Orange, and inherited his whole estate.
The truce of Treves expired in 1621, and the court Renewal of
of Spain resolved to renew the war for the subjugation g ^ar y
of the seven revolted Provinces. James I. accordingly
sent 6000 English troops to aid the Dutch cause.
These were commanded by Horatio, the younger bro-
ther of the Lord-Marshal, Sir Francis Yere 5, who had
died, and lies buried in Westminster Abbey under a well-
known stately monument. Horatio Yere was a wise and
valiant commander, so that under his auspices many
noble and aspiring soldiers followed him to the Low
Countries to be initiated in the art of war, among
5 Fuller includes him amongst his English Worthies, and says
of him " that his temper was such, that he was like the Caspian
Sea, which neither ehbs nor flows, observing a constant tenor ;
neither elated with success, nor depressed with failure." He
was created at the termination of the war Lord Vere, Baron of
Tillary. The younger children of Charles I. were placed under
the care of his widow, who was a lady of great piety and worth,
which has obtained for her this punning epithet : —
" Nobilitas tibi Vera fuit : prudentia Vera,
Vera tibi pietas." —
MAURICE OF ORANGE-NASSAU.
others the famous Monk, Duke of Albemarle. The
celebrated Count Peter Mansfeld, natural son of Peter
Ernest, was also at this time taken into English pay to
serve the cause of the Protestant Union in Germany, and
marched thither with 12,000 foot and 6000 horse, with
the view of recovering the Palatinate for the unfor-
tunate King and Queen of Bohemia. But this expedition
was rendered abortive by the defeat of Christian IV.,
King of Denmark, who commanded for the Protestant
Union, at JSTortheim, in 1626. Among those who accom-
panied the forces of Mansfeld was Duke Christian of
Brunswick, sometimes called Dol-Hartzoeh, or " the
madman." This Prince having no money to pay his
followers, and hearing that there were in the Cathedral
at Munster the statues of the Twelve Apostles, in silver,
of a prodigious bigness, he neither consulted Mansfeld
nor the Prince of Orange, but marched straight to
Munster, and entered the Dom-Kirk with all his staff,
when he made a speech to the figures to this effect, " that
they were idle, and disobedient, in not observing their
Master's command to go and teach all nations," and
that he had therefore resolved to make them efficient
travellers ; accordingly he directed them to be broken up
and coined into rix dollars. This Prince entertained a
great passion for the Queen of Bohemia, whose glove
he always carried tied by a ribbon to his helmet, on
which was inscribed in plain letters " Alles fur Gott
und Sie." When Mansfeld marched away, the Duke
returned to the Prince of Orange ; but he did not remain
long with the army, but followed the Princess into Eng-
land, where, for the honour of her English training, Her
Majesty did not encourage his strange passion. He
returned to the wars, and in an affair near Fleurus
had his arm shot off by a cannon-ball ; when he had a
false one made of silver, which could discourse music
like an instrument. He obtained the metal for this
from a silver statue of St. Liberius bigger than life,
which had been to that time at the Cathedral Church
MAURICE OF ORANGE-NASSAU. 47
of Paderborn. Baron Maurier, from whose work I
derive these anecdotes, declares that he had himself
seen the silver arm which this unscrupulous leader
carried. He now gave up the Queen, and assumed for
his device, " Gottes Freund und des Pfaffer Feind," or,
" Friend of God, and enemy of priests ;" and forthwith
acting on this assumed mission, he slew and plundered
the clergy without mercy. He was, undoubtedly, a
prince of great courage, but of brutal valour ; and, one
day, seeing a workman repairing a church steeple in
Holland, he wantonly fetched him down from the sum-
mit with a stone that killed him. This outrageous
spirit at length departed this life in the prime of his
youth of a burning fever at Wolfenbuttel.
Marquis Spinola commenced the campaign by the Capture
siege of Bergen-op-Zoom, with a considerable Spanish ° *~? e*~i
army, in 1622, but Maurice was enabled to meet him Maurice,
with the united forces of Mansfeld, Brunswick, and
his own, and obliged the Marquis to raise the siege.
He afterwards encountered Don Gonsalvo de Cordova,
who endeavoured to stay their passage into Germany
with a Spanish force near Fleurus ; but he also was
defeated. After this, however, Prince Maurice could
effect nothing considerable, but maintained his ground
solely by acting on the defensive during the entire
year 1623, in which he could not prevent the capture of
Breda, one of the strongest fortifications of the Low
Countries, in 1621. The mortification at being unable to
relieve this place during a long blockade of six months
preyed upon the mind of Prince Maurice, whose health
had already begun to give way ; and the state of his
mind was thought to be seriously affected by remorse for
the death of Barneveldt. He had indeed often missed the
administrative talents of the Grand Pensionary, who in
former campaigns had always provided largely and
effectively for the army under his command ; and on
one occasion, when his ill fortune had brought on some
disappointments, Maurice exclaimed, " Quand ce vieux
48 MAFRTCE OF OBAHTGE-NASSAU.
eoquin vivait nous n'etions pas aussi cmbarasses
d'areent et de conscils ; mais maintenant nous n'avons
ni Tun ni l'autre." An access of fever obliged him to
quit the field and withdraw to the Hague, where he
died in 1625, at the age of fifty-eight years. It has
been the constant burden of all biographers to attribute
his sudden and early death to compunction for his
most cruel judgment upon the venerable and es-
timable Barneveldt ; and it must be admitted that in
that affair he exhibited an unbridled and tyrannical
despotism that cannot be extenuated, and must ever
very much damage his reputation. Like many great
men at the head of armies, and for many years in pos-
session of arbitrary power, he was impatient under any
opposition ; and although the exertions required to
support a tottering cause under difficulties had brought
his temper somewhat under restraint, it had never been
a good one. Notwithstanding this outrageous crime,
he must be acquitted of the desire imputed to him of
sacrificing Batavian independence. He had survived
the Pensionary eight years, and the Prince had not
in this interval made one step towards the desire to
turn matters to his own account and make himself
King, of which Barneveldt and his party had accused
him. This has not been, perhaps, sufficiently borne
in mind in the estimate of the Prince's conduct ; since
after the removal of all obstacles to his ambition he
had no sufficient cause to hesitate in his course, if
the accusation had been true. For the rest, although
he had the reputation of having been naturally good,
true, and honest in private life, yet in the article of
women he was considered to have been most dissolute :
he never married, but he had several illegitimate
children, especially a daughter by a Madame de Micheler,
his sometime mistress, and one Monsieur de Beververt,
who was a soldier of some distinction.
Character Prince Maurice of Nassau possessed very great
of Prince Clualities for war, and evinced courage and military
Maurice. 1
MAURICE OF ORANGE-NASSAU. 49
ability upon every occasion of his service. He was
indeed considered the most consummate warrior of his
day, although inferior in forethought and circumspec-
tion to Montecucculi. But the Chevalier Folard re-
gards him as the greatest commander of infantry since
the time of the Romans. He had deeply studied the
military works of the ancients, and was fond of endea-
vouring to apply their rules to the various occurrences
of his own experience. He discovered inimitable skill
in his marches and encampments ; and was indefatigable
in devising means to render his troops patient of cold,
hunger, and fatigue. He particularly excelled in every
thing that could add to the efficiency of a soldier, ex-
hibiting great address in collecting subsistence for his
armies from countries either barren by nature or
exhausted by war. He had the happy talent of call-
ing forth in a moment the ardour and confidence of
his followers, and could bring out their greatest exer-
tions at a moment of crisis. He had, moreover,
the secret of employing his resources at the smallest
possible expense of blood. At the same time he could
not tolerate effeminacy in his generals and officers,
and thought that they could scarcely be guilty of
a greater indiscretion than indulging in a bed, when
the men were lying on the hard ground. And this
he impressed even more strongly upon his younger
officers ; for he said that " a subaltern who commands
only 20 men, has no one but himself to depend upon ;
whereas a general has others to watch for him and
advise him ; and that those who were in the van or on
the outposts had the care and safety of the entire army
depending on them." The Prince himself was very
vigilant and laborious, and had the faculty possessed
by so many great commanders of snatching a short
sleep as soon as he laid himself down to court it. He
was very strong in his constitution, yet sufficiently
careful of so invaluable a blessing, by attending to many
little comforts in cold seasons, and wet camps ; such as
E
•"»() MAURICE OF ORANGE-XASSAU.
(Tearing two or even three shirts. He always clothed
himself in his campaigns alter the same fashion, with
woollen clothes of the same stuff, generally of a sort of
lirown, or mud-colour, sometimes faced with velvet.
But when dressed for state, his doublet of silk was
slashed with gold stripes ; and he wore in his hat a
hand of diamonds, while the gilt girdle to which his
sword was fastened was enriched with jewels. About
lus neck likewise he carried, according to the fashion
of the time, little plaited ruffs, edged with Flemish
lace. In appearance he had a plump and ruddy
countenance, with a fair beard, which he wore very
full and broad. His figure was stout, which made him
appear of shorter stature than he really was. His chief
diversion, when not occupied with war or politics,
was the game of chess, always risking a crown of gold
on his game. At this he was either not very skilful,
or very unfortunate ; for he would sometimes lose nine
or ten crowns, though he never played for above one
at a time, without ever doubling. He was very much
vexed when he was such a loser ; which happens at chess
even to the greatest players, for the manifest reason,
— that it does not depend so much upon chance, and
is therefore more the player's own fault if he loses.
When he lost, and it happened to be late when he
gave over play, and the wax lights were almost burned
out, he would get up, pull his hat over his eyes, and
retire without bidding his adversary " Good night ;"
but when he won, he would be very pleasant, perhaps
conduct him on his way, or command his pages to
light and wait upon him to his lodgings.
His camp soon became the military school of Europe,
for he was far above his contemporaries, not only as a
mere soldier in the field, but as a deep-thinking man on
all the means of war in the cabinet. He was an inven-
tive man also, and spared no cost to put to the test
any invention that either his own mind, or that of any
other officer, suggested ; consequently he enriched the
MAURICE OF OHANGE-NASSAU. 51
armoury of the battle-field with many additions and
improvements. He studied the science of strengthen-
ing a position by breastworks and other simple obsta-
cles to check the advance of an enemy, and devised
several new expedients for the beleaguerment of similar
obstacles in an enemy ; for he was a great master in
the science of attack and defence of fortified places,
so far as the art had advanced in his days. He also
invented a peculiar pontoon for crossing rivers. He
would not suffer his troops to wear the straight, stiff
boot, adopted in his time from the French, " because,"
he said, " it took his men sometimes an hour to get
booted." But he set the example of wearing boots so
large, that a man could almost leap into them ; and he
thought this enabled them to get quicker into their
saddles in moments of urgent haste. All these things
proved the Prince to be of an observing mind, and
fertile in resources.
He gained three •victories en bataille rangee ; cap- Prince
tured thirty-eight fortresses, besides many castles and ^en.ry. ,
detached forts ; and obliged his antagonists to raise 0f Orange-
twelve sieges. " No prince ever waged war with more Nassau,
difficulties and greater success. No son more closely
imitated Hamlet in his deference to the ghost of a
father." It was to extend the objects and to increase the
reputation of his great ancestor that he continually
acted : and it has been even suggested that his conduct
towards Barneveldt was with the endeavour to hold a
middle balance between liberty and monarchy ; not for
his own personal ambition, but to stop the contagion
of popular excess. He was succeeded as head of the
house of Orange-Nassau, and in the Stadtholderate, by
his brother Henry Frederick, a prince of good mien and
a very great captain, who secured and established the
commonwealth of the Seven United Provinces by his
valour, and governing with wisdom and equity consum-
mated the independence of Holland.
E 2
AMBEOSIO, MARQUIS DE SPINOLA,
A SPANISH GENERAL.
Born 1569. Died 1633.
This great warrior, renowned in an age fertile of His parent-
heroes, belonged to a very ancient Genoese family, age. an<|
which had commanded high consideration for some cation,
centuries in that famous republic. "When Ferdinand,
King of Spain, reunited the kingdoms of Naples and
Sicily under his sceptre, and Genoa, Florence, and
Venice remained insulated with scanty territories in
the midst of this monarchy, their inhabitants looked
very much to the King of Spain as the great luminary
of the ascendant. Ambrosio, born in 1569, was the son
of a Count de Benafro, of which house he was the head.
But the family of Spinola 1 was originally from Milan
1 The family of Spinola are by no means " unknown to fame,"
for besides the great Marquis and his brother the Admiral, we
meet with another Marquis commanding for the King of Spain
A.MBB08I0, KIABQUIS DE M'INOLA.
and the Montferrat, on the confines of which is situated
the small town that gives them the name. A canlet
of the house had in a former generation removed to
Genoa, and, although ennobled, appears to have em-
ployed the family's designation in the vast mercantile
speculations in which they accumulated much wealth.
After his father's death it would seem that Ambrosio
contented himself with the occupations of his com-
mercial calling at home, while his younger brother,
Frederick, took military service under King Philip II.
The renown obtained by the younger brother in his
martial career first roused the elder brother's ambition
to seek similar distinction, and with this view he em-
ployed his leisure in reading the best military authors,
which fed his enthusiasm and exalted his desire for
renown ; so that when Frederick arrived at his paternal
home with the rank and consequence of a vice-admiral
of Spain, and with all the applause of glory that great
success naturally obtained from his townsmen, Ambrosio
could no longer restrain himself, but wrote at once to
offer his services to the King of Spain. They were
accepted, and he raised at his own cost in a couple of
months a corps of 9000 troops, which had either been
disbanded from other armies, or were ready to accept
service on either side for booty. These were raised after
the manner of the old condottieri, upon the under-
standing implied or stated that the expense of raising
them should be afterwards reimbursed by the Spanish
treasury. With the force accordingly that he had
raised, he appeared at their head in Milan in the month
of May, 1602.
Spinola provided the entire means himself in the first
instance for the fitting out of this force, and he occupied
himself assiduously with its organization and discipline.
His two friends, Justiniani and Dentici, commanded
in the War of the Succession, who defended Messina in 1719;
and there was another of the same name, an admiral, who com-
manded the Spanish fleet oil' the Havannah in 1749.
AMBEOSIO, MAEQUIS DE SPINOLA. 55
the two brigades of which the army consisted. He
evinced the solidity of his understanding by the care
which distinguished these troops from all other condot-
tieri, especially in respect to regularity of pay, which he
rightly deemed to be the foundation of all discipline,
but which had been too fatally departed from in the
organization of other armies at this period. He pro-
bably was indebted to commercial friendship and con-
nexions for the ability to pay such a force, but, as we
shall see in the sequel, it was very much on this cir-
cumstance that he depended for military success, and
that it was to the regularity that he instilled into the
maintenance of his little army that he was very much
indebted for his early renown. The Spanish cause in
the Netherlands had greatly waned before Prince
Maurice of Nassau when Ambrosio de Spinola reached
the royal camp. Time had elapsed, for he had had
a considerable distance to march with his new levies
before he could reach this destination out of Italy. He
took his way across the Alps and through Switzerland
until he attained the province of Franche Comte, and
thence, passing through Lorraine and the Duchy of
Luxemburg, he attained the camp of the Archduke
Albert, Viceroy of the Netherlands, in June, 1603.
The siege of Ostend had been already two years in
progress, and Maurice, having failed to raise it, had
made an inroad into Brabant, with a view of making a
diversion, after which he had sat down with his army
before Grave. The two leaders soon came in presence,
for Spinola endeavoured to open the campaign by an
attempt to break through the Dutch hues ; but this
debut to his military career was unsuccessful.
This contretems at the first start was especially Siege of
untoward, because the Spanish army in the Nether- Ostend.
lands had at the moment lost all heart in their cause,
by reason of their long continuance of ill success, and
from want of regularity of pay : a generally lax
discipline had accordingly been induced, under which
Ob AMMIOSIU. UASQUIS JJE SPINOLA.
many had so far forgot their honour, as in the
very presence of the enemy to break out into open
revolt, in which many thousands of the privates had
abandoned their colours. It was therefore a bitter
disappointment to the Viceroy, that one who had
evinced so much ability, and had acquired so just a
reputation by his march from Italy, should have in the
first encounter succumbed to Prince Maurice. The
opportunity, however, proved to be one especially cal-
culated to test the value of the new general's character.
In spite of the dangerous infection of mutinous bodies,
Spinola's army remained faithful to their colours. The
help that he brought the Archduke by this example
was most opportune, and he was forthwith appointed
to the command of the tainted royal army. He here
evinced a degree of resolution that was perfectly new
to these troops. He enforced the most rigid discipline,
and in spite of the murmurs of the old generals who
were now first placed under his command, and who
had hitherto opposed themselves to every measure of
amelioration and reform, he showed a vigour which
at first, instead of moving them, increased the op-
position to his authority. He dismissed 200 dis-
contented officers at the first swoop, discovered that
the grievance at bottom of the whole was arrears of
pay, and in the short space of eight days he settled the
whole of the arrears ; when discipline and order soon
followed these honest, bold, and judicious proceedings.
Spinola ap- It was just at this juncture that his brother
theditf0 Frederick met with his death near Sluys, in the en-
conimaud deavour to chase the Dutch fleet from the sea-board of
nih'arnT' 0stencL The new King> PhiliP 1IL> was s« *eU satis-
of the Ne- fied with the report made to him of the Marquis's pru-
therlands. dent and successful suppression of the mutiny, that he
offered him the post vacant by his brother's death, of
Grand- Admiral of Spain ; but Spinola had the good
sense to decline this honourable offer, from a sense of
his insufficiency to fulfil it efficiently ; and the King
AMBItOSIO, MAKQUIS DE SPENOLA. 57
was so struck with the General's modesty, that he
nominated him to the chief command of his army in
the Netherlands, above Don Francis Mendoza, Admiral
of Arragon, under whom he had hitherto served. He
resolved as his first measure to reduce Ostend, against
which the Spanish forces had been engaged for nearly
two years. With a view of being more in measure to
succeed, he raised some new regiments, appointing pro-
bably some of the dismissed officers, after their re-
pentance, to the principal ranks ; and in those days
there were always disbanded mercenaries, that a man
with money in his hand could get together. He went
down to reconnoitre the fortress, and soon evinced
the vigorous element of his character. The outlying
posts of the besieged were driven in, and the artillery
brought nearer to the walls of the beleaguered town ;
the batteries were armed with fresh guns, and the
trenches were repaired and shaped anew. He caused
new chaussees to be constructed to pass across the inun-
dations, and he determined to advance by the mine as
well as by the breach. By these combined means, and
by the fire he opened upon the body of the place, the
ramparts soon became untenable ; and preparations were
made to advance to the assault. But the defenders
had become tired of defensive warfare, which has in
truth a depressing effect upon men's minds generally.
They had been all driven in, and huddled together
amidst ruins and unsafe buildings, and there seemed
nothing left worth fighting for, while the expense of
maintaining Ostend as a fortress was beyond all reason.
It was determined therefore that they should en-
deavour to make such terms as their long and most
glorious opposition justified them in demanding, and
which a new general, like Spinola, intent on making
his services of value, was content to grant. It was the
14th September, 1604, when 4000 Dutch surrendered
the walls of Ostend, and inarched " with all the pride,
pomp, and circumstance of war " through the besieging
58 &MBBOSIO, MA1JQUIS DE SPINOLA.
forces to join Maurice of Nassau, who had just obtained
possession of Sluys. This garrison bad changed their
governors four times during the siege of four years
and sixty-four days — two of whom had been killed,
one severely wounded, and the survivor signed the
capitulation with only one arm — they had been shut
up within the walls, at an expense of 200,000 francs
per month, and 18,000 of their gallant brethren bad
succumbed from the casualties of war and disease.
But the Spaniards were thought to have exhausted
their treasures, in the endeavour to possess it, to the
extent of two millions, and of threescore thousand men.
The smock of the Archduchess Isabel was now sent to
the dyer, and an immortality given to a new hue of
those of the rainbow, while Marquis Spinola received
the Archduke Albert in the midst of the smoking de-
vastation, and formally delivered into his hands the
keys of the captured fortress.
The sur- This achievement conferred so great a renown on
rwltIi0f ^ne Crenei*ab that the King of Spain desired to make
Spinola re- bis acquaintance, and to confer upon him with his own
ceives the hand the guerdon he designed to bestow. Spinola
Golden therefore repaired to Madrid at the commencement of
Fkece. 1005, and was duly invested Avith the order of the
Golden Fleece, and created Conde de Yolgera, and a
grandee of Spain. He had very nearly fallen into the
hands of some of the free corps, who thronged every
highway of France at this period ; but, nevertheless,
he determined, after settling with the Spanish Govern-
ment the necessary business that the important com-
mand to which he was ordered to return imposed upon
him, to accept the invitation of Henry IV. to pay him
a visit at the French capital. The artful monarch,
who, under the guise of great merriment and cheerful-
ness, had some knowledge of kingcraft, desired to learn
what was the plan for the next campaign ; and while
receiving the Spanish general with the greatest honour,
sounded him on this point. It was of, course well
AMBBOSIO, MARQUIS DE SPINOLA. 59
known that France was the ally of Holland, and His.
Majesty therefore went warily to work, and took for
granted that Spinola would impose upon him as in-
formation the direct contrary to the plan projected.
But, in the frankness of the Marquis's character, he
stated openly his intentions, which were forthwith
communicated to Holland as the certain evidence of
what was not to be credited ; so that the King, when
he afterwards found out his mistake, remarked, " Les
autres trompent en mentant, mais celui-ci trompe en
disant vrai."
The army under the command of Spinola in 1605 Spinola
consisted of 40,000 excellent troops, and with these he J^PWnoe
forthwith took the field against Prince Maurice. He Maurice for
had given his counsel in Spain that the revolted Pro- *ne nias'
tcrv
vinces were not to be attacked amidst their water de-
fences ; for that the country was easily rendered inacces-
sible, except through very strong works of attack, that
would involve great delays and loss of life ; but that
by advancing on the side of Guelderland, the country
was of a very different character, and of easier access.
Maurice was, however, quite prepared to oppose his ad-
versary on either line, and both leaders evinced during
the years 1606, 1607, and 1608, military resources
quite new to the art of war in previous centuries, but
which were not productive of great events. The Stadt-
holder adopted a policy purely defensive, so as to avoid
any thing that might produce a crisis ; and Spinola,
with a noble and soldierly spirit, made it the object of
his command to bridle the disorders of his condottieri,
and to adopt a course quite contrary to that pursued
by the adventurers who brought their hired swords at
the cost of committing every enormity on the unhappy
peasantry amongst whom they passed, either as friends
or enemies. At length, in 1609, the Marquis received the
commands of his Court to propose an accommodation
to the revolted Provinces. The class of negotiators
who at first undertook to settle the basis of a treaty,
60 AM13ROS10, MAKyUIS i)K SPINOLA.
was not at all suited to so delicate an undertaking.
The simple boors of the marsh lands of Holland, though
guided by the ability of such men as Barneveldt and
Grotius, were as wide as the poles asunder from the
refined, artful, and experienced diplomacy of Spain,
and matters proceeded slowly. But when Maurice
and Spinola at length met at the Hague, the Prince,
descending from his carriage, courteously handed his
great rival into it, when the two great antagonists in
a single hour settled all the matters in dispute, in a
manner that Castilian pride and democratic impor-
tunity would never have arrived at. The truce of
Treves was thus concluded — 1610.
Spinola in- During the continuance of this truce, Spinola in
vades Bo- . , , . , . . „ . . r
hernia : ad- vam endeavoured to obtain from the Spanish Govern-
dress to bis ment the remuneration of the expenses of maintaining
oops" his troops, which pressed heavily on his private re-
sources. But in the midst of these negotiations, which
carried him more than once backwards and forwards to
Madrid and Brussels, both King Philip III. and the
Viceroy, the Archduke Albert, died. The Archduchess
Isabel, however, entreated Spinola to remain in the
command of the Spanish army ; for the Emperor Ferdi-
nand had urged on her an application for some assistance
in his war against the troops of the Protestant Union
in Germany ; and accordingly, in August, 1620, Spinola
crossed the Rhine with an army of nearly 30,000 men,
and entered the dominions of the unfortunate Kinir of
Bohemia. I derive from a manuscript letter in the
Bodleian Library the following specimen of the Spanish
style of eloquence, and the nature of the orders of the
day of the period addressed to their troops. It is styled,
" Oration made by Monsieur Spinola to his army when
he brake the bridge of boats over the Ehine near the
confines of the Palatinate. — ' Jactamur (?) et alea. —
And as Julius Cajsar when he passed the river in Italy
set up his resolution to put up for the Roman Empire
or to die under the attempt ; so, though there be great
AHBEOSIO, MAEQUIS DE SPINOLA. 61
difference in the enterprise and far more in the person,
yet I will with your help and the sword, make my
passage through this country before us, and possess it ;
and, as I shall receive commandment from my King to
join with the Imperial army in a contest which I un-
dertake for the Catholic religion, and for the just rights
of the Emperor, you shall not want for any thing,
having, as ye well know, brought sufficient treasure
with me. And for a testimony of my love to you, and
of my confidence in you, I will expressly give order
that you have two months' pay beforehand, which shall
be paid unto you before you pass any further upon my
service. We are seven and twenty thousand men at
arms by muster ; better men the world cannot afford.
Of these, above three-fourths have met the enemy in
the face. All are valiant and loyal, and sithence the
eye of all the Christian world and more is upon us, let
us, for God's sake and our own, effect things worthy
of so valorous an army. So I commend you all and
our endeavours to the affection of the Almighty.' '
But Spinola was shortly summoned back again to- The siege
wards the Netherlands, owing to the increased im- ° Zoom. "
portance assumed by the dispute touching the succes-
sion to the Duchy of Cleves, and to the preparations
making by Holland against the termination of the ten
years' truce in 1621. In the first months of the new year
(1622), however, Spinola again took the field against
Prince Maurice, and obtained Reede by storm and Juliers
by capitulation, and in the following October he sat down
before Bergen-op-Zoom. The Stadtholder, however, was
at the moment strong enough in force to resist this ope-
ration, and he obliged the Marquis to raise the siege,
and to retire to take up his winter quarters about
Antwerp. After having raised the siege of Bergen-op-
Zoom, Maurice, Prince of Orange, laid a plan for the
surprise of Antwerp ; but heaven and the winds were
opposed to his design. The undertaking was never-
theless well laid, and he promised to himself a happy
62 LMBEOSIO, MABQTJIS DE SPINOLA.
issue. But it will tend to show the burden of his
mind when he said, " he had given good order for every
thing, and God alone hindered its success."
Capture of When the reports of these matters reached Philip
IV. in Spain, he was disposed to entertain some pre-
judice against his General, and took on himself to give
his own directions for the war, without consult [ng
Spinola. His Majesty directed that Breda should be
besieged ; and when it was represented that it was
needful to make many preparations for an operation of
that magnitude, the King sat down and wrote this
laconic order to his General ; — " Marquis, take Breda "
— " Yo — El Bey." In obedience to this imperative
command, Spinola suddenly invested that place on the
18th of August, 1624, greatly to the astonishment
of the garrison, and not a little to the surprise of
Maurice, who endeavoured to avert the operation
by manoeuvring. But Spinola completely foiled the
Prince in the field, and besieged Breda in spite of all
the Dutch Stadtholder could do to prevent it, and the
siege of it has ever been regarded as his most illus-
trious action. Breda capitulated to Spinola on the 5th
of June, 1625. This success added immensely to his
military reputation, and not a little gratified his
Sovereign, who had insisted upon it. But it did not ob-
tain for him from the Spanish treasury the repayments
he continually urged, and he eventually became so
troublesome from his importunity, that the Spanish
Government, notwithstanding his renommee, recalled
him from the command of the Spanish army in 1627.
Spinola re- The Marquis wTas not over-pleased with this proceed-
sitsthe ' *"»' wmcu h° deemed to be an intrigue of the Court
ofRo- against him, and therefore repaired to Madrid to re-
' ,"'llc> monstrate against it. But on his way he was tempted
to turn aside to the siege of Rochelle, then besieged
by Louis XIII. in person. The King received Spinola
with much distinction, and conducted him through the
French lines, on which occasion he made the remark,
AMBROSIO, MARQUIS DE SPINOLA. 63
which was probably suggested by the interference with
his plans in the field by the feeble Philip IV., "La
presence de V. M. rend la noblesse Francaise infati-
gable et invincible : j'ai le chagrin de n'avoir jamais
eu Le Roi rnon maitre pour temoin de ce que j'ai fait
pour son service." Cardinal Richelieu, who was also
present with the French army, consulted him confi-
dentially on the best means of bringing the siege to
an early conclusion ; and Spinola gave his opinions in
the openness of his character freely, and to the best
of his judgment. But, when he reached Madrid, the
Spanish Minister, Olivarez, would have sent him to
Rochelle with a considerable force to the aid of the
besieged, when he refused the task, saying, " I have
both witnessed in person the works of the besiegers
by the King himself, and advised with the Minister
how the works might best be carried on ; so that it
would be impossible for me in honour to undertake
such a command."
In 1629, Spain was engaged in a war in Italy to ob- The siege
tain some objects for the Duke of Savoy in opposition of Casal.
to France, and Marquis Spmola was sent by .Philip a^h,
IV. against an army commanded by the Duke de
Nevers. He was not at all satisfied on his arrival at
the seat of war with the condition of the army he
was sent to command, or with the amount of means
placed at his disposal ; nevertheless, he undertook
towards the close of the year the siege of Casal. This
brought Louis XIII. into the field in person, with an
increase of force ; and Spinola demanded reinforce-
ments to oppose him. Awaiting these, he was obliged
to raise the siege he had undertaken, and in the spirit
of his genius occupied himself with the task of re-
modelling the materiel of his army ; so that before the
end of the year, when Marshal Bassompierre had suc-
ceeded to the command of the French forces, he again
sat down before Casal, and obtained possession of the
town, but could not succeed against the citadel, where
^ AMBROSIO, MARQUIS DE SPINOLA.
M. de Thoiras braved all his endeavours, while his ene-
mies at the Spanish Court opposed all his applications
for increased resources. He considered it of great
importance to terminate the campaign by some success
before the French King could return back to Italy,
and when this was denied him, he said in his vexation
" that he believed he wras sent into his own Italy for
the destruction of the reputation he had achieved else-
where." He nevertheless persevered, and was enabled
to keep the field for Spain by the ability of his mea-
sures, so that at length, on the 6th of April, 1631,
he succeeded in entering into terms with M. de Thoiras,
and in obtaining possession of the citadel of Casal,
which was followed by the peace of Cherasco.
Vexed and disappointed, however, by the bitterness
and increasing hostility of the Court of Spain, Spinola
remained in Italy, and died of a broken heart at Castel
Xuovo de Scrivia, 25th of September following, in
great agitation grasping the King's letters in his hand,
and exclaiming day and night, " M'hanno levato honore.
Me han quittado la honra." " They have filched away
my honour2." The Spaniards had indeed behaved
to him with great ingratitude. They had refused
to the last to defray the debts which he had incurred
2 These dying words of Spinola arc recorded in a curious pam-
phlet in the British Museum, entitled " Les Entretiens des Champs
Elysees, mdcxxxi." The Marquis is represented as falling foul,
in descending to the Shades, with the Duke of Savoy, whom he
abuses roundly for withholding support from him in the siege of
Casal ; and this produces such a row that the " infernal " police
are about to apprehend the Marquis, and take him before Bha-
damanthus for punishment, only that he pleads that he is an
Italian, and not one of the Spaniards who are in general so
uppish. The confusion brings forward all the late arrivals in the
place,— Henry IV., the Duke of Alva, the Duke of Parma, and
other Cardinals and officers, and they discuss at some length the
politics of Europe. Henry IV. calls Spinola by the name of Le
Strigio, which may have been his pet name among his comrades
when commanding in the flesh ; for most generals receive a simi-
lar compliment from their soldiers.
AMBROSIO, MARQUIS DE SPINOLA. G5
for the support of the army, and had even sequestered
some estates he had purchased : so that his son was
seriously injured in his property, and even the just
reputation of the hero had been assailed by the proud
Castilians because he was a foreigner.
Marquis Ambrosio de Spinola was, doubtless, one of Spinola's
the ablest generals of his time, not even inferior to c aracter-
his great adversary, Maurice of Nassau. As a military
administrator he had in those days no rival. By
nature and education a man of accounts, he was the
acme of all order, and severe in his regularity in every
thing. It was the confidence entertained by his sol-
diery in the certainty of regular payments that attached
them to him the more surely at a time when merce-
naries formed the staple of all armies, who understood as
part of their engagement that their remuneration teas
" the simple plan —
That they should get who had the power,
And they should keep who can."
But there was nothing mean in Spinola's organiza-
tion, for he evinced during his whole career a gene-
rosity that was very remarkable, and which was often
extended towards his enemies as well as friends, if he
deemed them deserving of it — a course of conduct
which even the Tillys and Wallensteins were incapable
of appreciating. He was not only a lover and prac-
tiser of order in his payments, but also of his time, of
which, having, of course, a great deal to do, he was a
most careful dispenser ; so that on hearing one day of
one who had died from the want of something to do,
he exclaimed, " Alas ! that would be enough to kill
the stoutest general of us all: for although idleness
has been placed by some visionary writers among the
beatitudes of heaven, I should rather be disposed to
number it among the torments of hell." He was,
however, deficient in one very useful quality for a
military leader, — he lacked calmness. He is said to
F
66 (LMBBOSTO, M.VKQUTS BE SPINOLA.
have been Lean in figure, yel a celebrated picture of
him by Rubens makes him stout. He is spoken of as
drj and choleric in disposition, and one who could never
sleep day or night if lie had any urgent business on his
spirits. He began his career of arms when he had
passed the age of thirty; and when he undertook the
command of armies his knowledge of the art of war
had been entirely obtained from books. Naturally a
man of bravery and resolution, his commercial habits
had inspired a principle of rule that engendered order,
and his extensive reading gave him the knowledge of
the resources that had been employed by those who
had gone before him, so that he appeared in the field
ready equipped for war, as if ready armed, like Minerva
from the brain of Jupiter. Spinola is almost the last
of the great Spanish commanders, who up to this period
have obtained renown in military history. Since the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the military per-
formances of the Spanish armies have very much fallen
in professional repute. Spinola was hardly sufficiently
valued by his own Sovereigns, Philip III. and IV., but
was very highly esteemed by Henry IV., Louis XIII.,
and by the Viceroy of the Netherlands, as well as by
his great opponent, Maurice of Nassau. His first and
greatest act, the capture of Ostend, placed him high
amongst those who had signalized themselves in such
operations, because that place had stubbornly resisted
ab1 the great resources of Spain for a period that exceeds
the duration of almost every other siege on record 3.
3 Tlic reputation of Spinola has been not inelegantly delineated
by a poet of his own time.
" Anna aniens petit, armatis trepida undique eingi
Castra putat Francosque suo cum rcge ruentes
vEgra mente videt ; patriamque elatus in urbem
Post tot devictos populos, tot bella, tot hostes,
Oppida tot, tot castra, urbesque, arcesque subactas,
Yiiicituv a fato invictus, vita>que supremam
Hie ubi primam liausit, clausit Dux Spinola lucem."
Kriegs-Kunst Lexikon ; Biographic Univcrselle ; Russell's
Modern Europe.
ERNEST, COUNT MANSFELD,
A GERMAN GENERAL.
Bom 1585. Died 1626.
The family of Mansfeld was of very high antiquity in Birth, pa-
the Duchy of Magdeburg, and one of the family (who renta?e>
was afterwards slain in battle) had been ennobled for education,
his bravery by the Emperor Henry V., in the beginning of
the twelfth century. His descendant, Peter Ernest, was
an able soldier and servant of the Emperor Charles V.,
whom he accompanied on his expedition into Africa ;
and in after years he obtained such consideration from
his Sovereign, as for a short time after the death of the
Duke of Parma to be appointed Governor- General of
the Netherlands. He was subsecpiently raised to the
dignity of a Prince of the Empire, which honour de-
scended to his legitimate son, who died soon after his
father ; when this event terminated the princely house.
The subject of this memoir was born to the Prince
p 2
68 EBNKBT, COUNT MANSFELD.
Mansfeld from a lady of Malines in 1585, and was
named Ernest, not after his putative father, hut, for
some eause or other, from the Archduke Ernest, a
brother of the Emperor. He was brought up at
Brussels in the religion of his mother ; but highly
important to every man's prosperity or adversity as dis-
tinctions of religion were, especially in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, and deeply as they coloured a
man's career, it is lamentable to think how loosely
principles of faith and practice sat on men of the highest
position in those days, although they appeared ready at
all times to risk their life-blood in constant danger in
the field as in the city for the sake of what they termed
their "religion." Peter Ernest, the putative father,
was believed to have imbibed the principles of the
Reformation, but had in policy remained a Papist ;
while Ernest, the illegitimate son, cast off the religion
of his childhood and became a Protestant.
Sides with The young Mansfeld made his first campaigns in
the Elector the service of the Emperor before Juliers, and in Alsace,
and subsecpiently acquired distinction in the wars of
the Netherlands under Spinola, and in Hungary under
the banner of the Archduke Leopold ; and he was
legitimated by the Emperor Rudolph II. for his bravery
in the field. On the death of his father, or brother, or
both, which terminated the legitimate line of Mansfeld,
he was refused the grant of his paternal possessions ;
contrary, as it has been alleged, to the Imperial promise :
and from that moment he repudiated his allegiance to
the Emperor, and accepted service under the Duke of
Savoy as a mercenary adventurer, ready to carry the
baton of command to any one. In 1610, the Duke gave
him his dismission from the service of Savoy, when he
created him Marcpiis of Castel-Nuovo. Mansfeld did not,
however, permit his bitter anger against the Emperor to
cool by distance, but as soon as the Protestant Union of
Germany required a leader to oppose the Imperial troops,
he accepted the post of Generalissimo, and suddenly and
EBNEST, COUNT MANSFELD. 69
quite unexpectedly appeared in Bohemia at the head of
14,000mercenaries,to uphold the new and rickety throne
of Frederick, the Elector Palatine. By what motives
he was actuated at this very earliest movement of the
Thirty Years' War is not very certain ; the ruin and
overthrow of the unfortunate King of Bohemia was
consummated on the Weissenfels at the first onset,
yet Mansfeld remained passive in his camp at Pilsen
during its consummation, leaving his royal master to fly
and beg his bread. The reason assigned was said to be
that Mansfeld would not serve under the Princes of
Anhalt and Hohenlohen. At all events, left without
assistance after the battle of Prague by the unfortunate
Elector King (to whose service he had devoted himself),
and uncertain whether Frederick would thank him for
his perseverance or otherwise, he moved his army into
the town of Pilsen, and there "on his own hook"
defied the whole power of the Emperor for some time.
The state of the contest at this period was this : — The Elee-
The Estates of Bohemia, Silesia, Moravia, Hungary, tor.ofBa-
' * ' o j > yaria sides
Austria, Styria, Carniola, and Carinthia— all hereditary with the
possessions of the house of Hapsburg — actuated by the Emperor,
principles of the Reformed religion, had confederated
against their Sovereign Ferdinand, who had announced
on his accession to the empire, in 1617, that the pro-
gramme of his policy was, — " Better to rule over a
desert than a country full of heretics," and who had
made vows both at Loretto and Borne to his generalis-
sima, the Holy Virgin, to extend her worship even at
the risk of his crown and his life. John George, the
Elector of Saxony, was placed at the head of the German
Protestants ; on the other hand, the Elector of Bavaria
sided with the Emperor, and brought an army to his
aid, commanded by the celebrated Tilly. Ferdinand,
unable to obtain troops from his hereditary dominions,
who were in arms against him, raised troops in Italy,
Spain, and the remote extremities of the empire, and
placed one army under the command of Dampierre, a
70 i:km:st, count mansfeld.
Frenchman, and another under a Spaniard, an adven-
turer of the name of Boucquoi. The former was slain
early in the war at Presburg, but the latter encountered
Mansfeld at Pilsen, who for some time held out against
the Imperialist General, until Mansfeld' s army, mutiny-
ing for want of pay, would have sold him to the enemy,
but that he saw the strait to which he was reduced in
time, and fled. Undismayed by this issue, he collected
the disbanded troops of the Union, and in a short time
assembled a new army of 20,000 men under his banners,
with which he entered the Upper Palatinate. The Duke
of Bavaria followed him thither so pertinaciously, that
he was compelled to retire into the Lower Palatinate,
where the Bavarian General, Tilly, already awaited him.
But eluding further pursuit fx'om both antagonists by
a successful stratagem, he suddenly fell upon the church
lands near the Rhine, and inflicted upon them unheard-
of severities. Being deserted by those who had engaged
him in the service, or driven by the negligence of the
fugitive Protestant princes to every kind of difficulty in
supplying the necessities of a large army, he was com-
pelled to maintain his troops by such universal pillage as
acquired for him the name of the Attila of Christianity.
ManstVkl The swrarm that had alighted on their possessions
protects induced the Sovereign Bishops to implore the presence
Bohemia. °f ^ne Spanish General Corduba, who had succeeded
to the command of the Netherlands army ; and he,
hastily raising the siege of Frankenthal, marched
across the Rhine ; when Mansfeld, unable to cope with
such a force, led his needy followers into Alsace, to
seek for shelter and subsistence : where, by wasting
the country into frightful deserts, and forcing the
cities to purchase an exemption from pillage by enor-
mous contributions, he became sufficiently reinforced
to take the field again, and to afford shelter to the un-
fortunate Frederick, King of Bohemia, to whose terri-
tory, in the Lower Palatinate, he now marched to give
protection. Tilly accordingly came against him, and en-
EENEST, COUNT MANSFELD. 71
ffao-ed him at Wisloeh and Minsjelsheim in a murderous Is dismiss-
1 +* .
action, in which he was joined by the mercenaries of j^ m
Christian, Duke of Brunswick, and administrator ofmaud.
Halberstadt. Amidst this posse of reckless adven-
turers a band gathered around the wretched Frederick,
which acknowledged him indeed as Lord, and dignified
itself by his name, but yielded him neither power to
oppose to the Emperor, whom he had so desperately
offended, nor to obtain for him any terms. At length,
through the intervention of his father-in-law, James I.
of England, he was brought to seek the Imperial cle-
mency, and to dismiss Mansfeld and Duke Christian
from his service, while the unfortunate Prince himself
retired into Holland to await Ferdinand's mercy, who
however gave him no hope that the Palatinate should
ever again be restored to his dominion, for he had
already disposed of it in favour of the Duke of Bavaria.
Both Mansfeld and Duke Christian were now at a loss A price is
for some new master. The cause of the Palatinate had his jjj^
never affected them in the slightest degree, for it was
nothing to a mercenary whom he served, and accord-
ing then- dismissal did not disarm them. War was
the object of such adventurers, and it was a matter of
perfect indifference to them in whose cause it was waged.
After some vain attempts on the part of Mansfeld to
be received into the Emperor's service, Ferdinand let
loose against him the full outburst of his anger, and on
the 20th of February, 1621, placed him under the ban
of the Empire, and set a price upon Ins head. He
suffered, however, in good company ; for by the same
decree 738 of the Protestant German nobility were
deprived of their estates ; the value of which spoliations
was estimated at forty millions of thalers. .
Mansfeld, though lying under the ban of the Empire, Is employ -
ii i i i j ed by the
without country, estates, or money, had already ren- Dutph
dered his name so famous by his spirit and enterprise, against Spi-
and by his singular faculty of recovering himself after nola-
the most signal reverses — recruiting new armies, and
EENEST, COT NT MAXSFELD.
moving with the rapidity of lightning from province to
province, and kingdom to kingdom — that he found
himself and his services soon coveted by the Protest-
ants of every State. The French Huguenots, under
tho Duke de Bouillon, first offered to take him into
pay, and he commenced his march into Lorraine to
join him. But Bouillon was persuaded to abandon the
Protestant cause, and to make his terms with Louis
XIII. In this emergency Mansfeld came across a
Spanish army under Gonzalez, and a Boyalist French
army under the Duke de Nevers, with whom he fought
a bloody and indecisive battle, which, hoAvever, did not
check him from pursuing his march through Cham-
pagne, where the excesses of his troops struck terror
even into the very heart of France. On reaching
Fleurus he met another Spanish army, which attempted
to stop him ; but after a bloody engagement he con-
tinued his way into the Netherlands, where the Dutch
were willing to purchase his services, to be employed
against Spinola, who, at the end of 1622, after the
expiration of the Truce of Treves, severely pressed the
army of Prince Maurice. He arrived in good time to
oblige the Spanish General to raise the siege of Bergen-
op-Zoom, which the latter had undertaken, and to re-
tire to Antwerp. Mansfeld carried his troops to recruit
themselves for new enterprises in the fertile province of
East Friesland, until the Dutch became weary of such
unwelcome help. Mansfeld, in the mean while, availed
himself of the proximity of England, either through an
invitation or upon the chance of finding James I.
disposed to engage him, and crossing over from
Holland was received in London with general accla-
mation and great favour as a distinguished Protestant
leader.
Encounters Mansfeld was immediately taken into English pay,
steinand and WaS entrusted witn tne command of reinforce-
Tilk, and ments, with which he was to join the League framed in
is defeated, fche Circle of Lower Saxony, for the restoration of the
eejS'est, count mansfeld. 73
Palatinate to the King's son-in-law. Christian IV. of
Denmark was himself, as Duke of Holstein, a Prince
of Germany, and was declared chief of the new Union.
As soon as the terms were concluded, Mansfeld re-
crossed to rejoin his troops in Friesland ; but he was
wrecked in crossing the sea, and saved in person with
great difficulty, while sixty-six of his companions and
followers perished. Maximilian of Bavaria now con-
ducted the campaign against Mansfeld as executor of the
Imperial ban ; and his General, Count Tilly, marching
along the left bank of the Weser, advanced against the
King of Denmark as far as Minden. Christian spread
his forces over the territories of Brunswick, and both
armies remained for some time in presence ; the latter
probably expecting the arrival of Mansfeld, and the
former the army which had recently taken the field
under Wallenstein. This latter general had orders to
unite with Tilly, but, being jealous of his fame, he
showed no disposition to share with him the laurels of
the campaign, and resolved to act independently of him.
He accordingly took post at Dessau. Mansfeld marched
at once against him upon the Elbe, and prevented the
junction of Wallenstein with Tilly, or any combined
attack upon the King of Denmark. With extraordinary
rashness, however, the intrepid Mansfeld advanced to
the very bridge of Dessau, and began to intrench him-
self in presence of the Imperial army. Wallenstein and
Tilly would not tolerate such insult, but fell upon bun
from opposite sides, and he was obliged to yield to
superior forces, and to abandon his post with the loss
of 3000 killed and many wounded and scattered.
After this defeat Mansfeld withdrew into Branden- Invades Si-
burg, where he soon reinforced his army, and collected lesia> and is
dcfpfi'tpc!
some 24,000 German Evangelians, including about His death.
3000 Scots and Danes, who had escaped from former dis-
comfitures ; and with these troops he suddenly appeared
in Silesia. As the hereditary dominions of the Emperor
were at this time entirely defenceless, Wallenstein
EENEST, COUNT MANSFELD.
received immediate orders to suspend his operations
against the King of Denmark, and, if possible, to drive
Mansfeld out of Silesia. He forthwith set himself in
pursuit ; hut his adversary made his way, amidst count-
less difficulties, from Silesia into Hungary and Transyl-
vania, where he hoped to derive assistance from Bethlem
Gabor, the Protestant chief of those parts, who had
recently broken his truce with the Emperor. But he
found himself not at all welcomed by the barbarian chief,
for this versatile ally had again made a hasty peace
with Ferdinand, and deserted the Protestant cause.
Mansfeld therefore found that he had drawn upon
himself the whole strength of the Imperial armies, in
place of the diversion he intended to make in favour of
the Protestant Union. Arrived on the banks of the
Waag therefore, between Leopoldstadt and Komorn,
he had no choice but to offer battle to Wallenstein,
and when victory turned against him he found himself
unable to maintain and keep together the weak rem-
nant of his troops in the presence of so many enemies,
so that he sold his cannon and baggage train ; and,
being altogether abandoned by his whole army, he was
forced to flee from the field, and seek his safety by blind
paths across the mountains. With a few followers he
reached the borders of Italy in November, 1026, when,
worn out by fatigue and disappointment, he took to
his bed at Zara, on the confines of Bosnia and Dalmatia,
and, as is recorded, " expired standing upright in his
armour." The story is, that, finding he was likely to
die, he had himself attired in his richest panoply, and,
leaning for support on two of his adjutants, he drew his
sword, and advanced to meet the dread antagonist to
whom he was about to succumb. The action may
appear more Pagan than Christian either to Protestant
or Catholic (to both of which denominations Mansfeld
had in turn belonged, but to neither of which he was
perhaps cordially attached). There is something grand,
however, in the act, which bespoke an indomitable
EENEST, COUNT HANSEELD. 75
bravery, and he might have apostrophized the King of
Terrors somewhat after this manner :
" Death ! thou fell tyrant, hast no fears for me :
A hero's fame is immortality;"
or, as has been more tersely expressed in a family motto :
"Non moritur cujus fama vivit."
He died in the forty-first year of his age, and lies
buried in the Cathedral of Spalatro.
Count Mansfeld was a diminutive, sickly-looking, de- His per-
formed man, but he possessed the soul of a true hero. sona ap~
' L pearanee
Constantly persecuted by fortune, he was to the last and charac-
superior to his fate. There never was a leader in the field ter-
who had been more inured to hardships and watchings,
hunger and cold ; and he merits immortality, for he had
always proved himself superior to adversity. Such a
military career as his required the full strength of a
powerful constitution, for he sunk exhausted at an age at
which few modern generals attain their first commands.
He was a man bold in council, fearless in danger, fertile
in resources, resolute, and never shrinking even under
the most adverse circumstances. He raised armies with
incredible rapidity, and ravaged territories for their
maintenance with ruthless severity and unconscionable
rigour. The terror of his name spread far and wide ;
and when he entered Champagne, the inhabitants fled
from their homes, as far as Orleans and the Yalley of
the Loire, for very dread, and were content to abandon
their property to avoid a conflagration that they knew
was unquenchable- and destructive. He obtained at
Paris the surname of " Sanguinario," or " Bloody
bones ;" and, like that of many dreaded conquerors,
the name was long employed to frighten children into
obedience even after the Thirty Years' War had ended.
To the qualities of a warrior Mansfeld united the
address of a very successful negotiator. Indeed his
talent for persuasion was such, that with a natural elo-
quence he knew how to insinuate himself into the con-
76 EENEST, COUNT MA.NSFELD.
fidence and heart of those whom he most desired to
win over to his cause. He was so skilful a diplomatist,
that his many hitter detractors were compelled to yield
him this merit. Indeed it was dangerous to argue
with a man whose tongue was as prompt as his sword,
who had persuasiveness as well as courage, and wdio
made his rule of action " tarn Marte quam Mercurio."
He is said to have had the hump of acquisitiveness
largely developed, and to have seized freely ; hut to
have been so prodigal of wealth as to squander it readily
on gifts, pleasures, or necessities ; so that he had neither
lands nor money at the time of his death. It was said
of him that he was " bonus in auxilio, carus in pretio,"
— that is, that he could render the highest services, but
made those who employed him pay dearly for them.
His mili- Count Mansfeld is regarded as one of the greatest
fixations " generals °f the seventeenth centuiy ; but he was too
reckless of gain to have been a good disciplinarian :
and his strategy was rather the effect of experience
than of study. As a tactician, he is said to " have
been the first to employ dragoons1 in warfare;" by
which I suppose it may be understood that he wras the
first to utilize a horse soldier for purposes beyond the
mere dash of a charge, by applying him more advan-
tageously for outposts and intelligence. If this be so,
he made a great advance in wrar tactics, since there is
scarcely any thing that can be rendered more beneficial
to the march, either in advance or retreat, than a well-
organized system of vedettes and patrols, which consti-
1 The term " Dragoon " was at the " introduction " often
interchanged for the name of Horse Musketeers. They wore the
first description of horse that carried a matchlock instead of a
pike. They were at the commencement armed with ordinary
fire-arms and short swords, with hatchets, that they might act
occasionally as pioneers. They were employed especially as a
protection against the Croats, who, like the Cossacks of our own
times, were very great annoyances to the march of regular troops,
and dragoons were employed to escort convoys, and were drilled
to act on foot as well as on horseback.
ERNEST, COUNT MANSFELD. 77
tute the eyes and ears of an army. However, there are
other military writers who give Mansfeld the credit of
establishing the force that was known long afterwards
by the name of " Voltigeur 2 :" " Qui pedites cum bom-
bardis majoribus imposuit equis, ut sic celeritatem equi-
2 Voltigettb. As Mansfeld has received very universally the
credit of having " introduced dragoons " in war, it may not be an
unfitting place and opportunity to suggest a new class of cavalry,
which I will call " voltigeurs," although I admit they are not
at all identical with the horse-infantry-man, so called by the
French. It may appear almost beyond the privilege of a veteran,
who has been for so many years estranged from the battle-field as
I have been, to ask the attention of his brother officers of the
present day to the consideration of a new arm of service, but I
will nevertheless without further phrase improvise my idea.
Voltigeurs, as formerly used, are not, I believe, now known in
any Continental army, and have never been introduced into our
own. But experience in outpost warfare has net been extended
since Waterloo, and remains still with the old soldiers of Europe,
or with the Federals and Confederates of the other hemisphere,
for the campaign of the Crimea of a year and a day never went
much beyond the business of a siege ; and even the French-Italian
and German-Danish wars have not included much marching and
manoeuvring, or "la petite guerre." The mighty change in the
implements of war, which must materially affect the attack and
defence of places, cannot fail likewise to influence the meet of
armies. The old skirmisher must be considerably altered; yet
he was, as it were, the finger of war, whose sensitive touch
showed where to direct the blow : now, he will become part of
the muscular action that gives it. A rifle that can carry a ball
upwards of 1000 yards with a perfect certainty, must tell upon
every kind of formation — and this change should be well con-
sidered and provided for beforehand.
I propose a cavalry regiment that should consist of twice as
many men as horses — say 1000 men to 500 horses — the rider
a lightsome, hardy, active little fellow, who should be as much at
home with a horse as a Pampas-man. As he could not be calcu-
lated on for close contest, he should be armed only with the best
and lightest rifle and revolver; but as he might have also to
defend himself on foot from the lance or the bayonet, he might
carry a small sword of no great weight, but sufficient to ward a
thrust. He should bear his ammunition round a waist-belt or on
a bandolier — should be dressed in the best form of sportsman-
habiliments, with a skull-cap like that of the police. The men's
packs should be carried two together on the crupper-pad, unless
7S KliNKST, COUNT MANSFELD.
turn et vim peditum ingeniosa haec mixtura in iisdem
consequeretur." But this mixed horse and foot man
never did much service in battle; and could scarcely
liavo done any good in the days of pike and matchlock.
Mansfeld was, from the condition of his birth, a man
of vast aspirations, which, combined with a natural
genius, led him to form high projects, such as we may
see in bis career. He began by serving the Elector Pala-
tine in Bohemia, suddenly came down upon the States
of the Ehine, and, when unceremoniously dismissed
from the Palatinate, carried his army first to assist the
Huguenots of France ; and, when disappointed in that
service, moved rapidly to the assistance of the Dutch.
Like many of his contemporaries, he lost armies as
quickly as he raised them 3.
when the horse carried double, at which time they should he
strapped on the men's backs.
At the proper time the men thus mounted should be carried
briskly to the front, and as near to the enemy's formations
as possihle, when the hindmost should dismount and open fire
— the horsemen retiring out of fire, but near enough to take the
men on their saddles or protect them from the approach of
cavalry. It is probahle that such an irruption, which would
bring a deadly fire to hear upon the foe, would be so annoying
and intolerahle, that, as in the olden time, under the effect of
round-shot and grape, they would he obliged to move ofi" the
field; and then imagine the effect of these voltigcurs upon the
flanks and rear of a retiring column ! They woidd be as moving
rifle-pits, and would immensely disturb every operation.
Such troops might also he usefully employed for other purposes,
more especially if care was taken to select them from the more
intelligent classes — such, for example, as could speak French, or
sketch a plan, or make good observations. As special soldiers
are appointed for the duties of the staff corps and for sappers and
miners, so these horsemen might be rendered available for raids
across the front of the armies — two or more together (ride and tye),
obtaining information about forage and supplies, and learning the
facilities of a district to nourish and quarter troops. They might
also execute many of the duties that have frequently to he sought
for and organized after a campaign has been inaugurated, such
as the gain of intelligence, &c.
3 Kriegs-Kunst Lexikon j Biographic TJniverselle ; Schiller.
JOHN TZERCLAES, COUNT VON
TILLY,
AN IMPERIALIST GENERAL.
Horn 1559. Died 1632.
Considerable doubt hangs over the occasion or origin His parent-
of the name of Tzerclaes, because personal names are a|e alL
not in Germany or the Netherlands a necessary con-
comitant of titular honour, as in England. The name
of Tilly is, however, derived from a lordship of that
name in South Brabant, where there is a castle in
which our hero was born in 1559. His father was a
nobleman of consideration, for he was a member of the
Imperial war council, and hereditary Seneschal of Namur;
his family was of an ancient and illustrious Belgian
stock, which had been already ennobled in the fifteenth
century, and was regarded as one of seven patrician
families of the Netherlands. Some biographers have
been fanciful enough to imagine that Tzerclaes is a
corruption of Sir Claus, or Sir Nicholas. But seeing
80 JOn>* TZERCLAES, COUNT VOX TTT.T.V.
that the great general's name was John, this would
seem an idle supposition. Little is known of his
youth ; hut it is believed that he was designed for the
Church, and that thus falling into the hands of the
Jesuits he became deepty imbued with Romanist im-
pressions and prejudices. For some reason or other he
adopted the profession of arms in 1580, and served in
the army of the Duke of Alva. He quitted, however,
the Spanish army in 1598, and, adopting the Imperial
service, followed the Duke of Lorraine into Hungary,
where he obtained considerable personal distinction in
His first some campaigns against the Turks. In 1007 he accepted
campaign, service with Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria, who gave
him the charge of the whole militia of his State, with
the title of General Oberst. When the unfortunate
Elector Palatine accepted the crown of Bohemia, and
dared the Emperor and his Catholic League, Duke
Maximilian took part with Ferdinand, and received in
return full powers to direct the Imperialist army, which
was to march in the cause of the Emperor against his
Bohemian rebels and the power of the Evangelical Union.
To Tilly was entrusted the command of the forces of
Bavaria, which were assembled at Donauwcrth, whence
wTith great promptitude he advanced with 30,000 men
into Upper Austria, and captured Linz. The Estates, sur-
prised and unprepared, purchased the Emperor's pardon
by an immediate and unconditional submission. Tilly
then united his forces with those of Count Bouequoi
in Lower Austria, and at the head of 50,000 men entered
Bohemia. The rebels were driven before them, and fled
into Moravia. Bouequoi and Tilly determined to ob-
tain possession of the important fortress of Neuslitz, and
on the 11th of June, 1619, having Count Dampierre in
advance, they captured the Castle. Mansfeld, however,
sent up a body of cavalry against Dampierre ; but
Bouequoi, coming up, drove them back upon the sup-
ports ; until at length Mansfeld himself came up at the
head of his cavalry, but was also driven back upon his
JOHN TZERCLAES, COUNT VON TILLY. 81
infantry, and a large amount of booty, valued at
20,000 rixdollars, fell into the hands of the Impe-
rialists. Every town that attempted resistance was
quickly taken by storm ; whereupon the rest, terrified
at this rapid inroad, voluntarily opened their gates.
Nothing now interrupted the impetuous career of
Maximilian and his doughty General. Prince Chris-
tian of Anhalt, in command of the Bohemian army,
retired before them to cover the capital of that king-
dom. Here the Protestant army had been joined by
10,000 Hungarians, under Bethlem Ghabor, who had
usurped the kingdom of Hungary : but Mansfeld had
separated from Anhalt, of whom it is supposed he was
jealous, and, instead of acting in concert with the allies
to oppose Tilly, he remained in the camp of Pilsen,
at some distance from Prague. The Elector Palatine,
acting the part of King within his palace, left it to his
generals to intrench his army upon the Weissenberg,
or the White Mountain ; while on the 8th of October,
1620, he presided at a grand entertainment given to
his lords and retainers. In the middle of the feast a
messenger came in to announce that the Imperialists
had suddenly advanced, and fallen upon the army of
the Prince of Anhalt. The charge of the Bavarians
and Walloons had already proved irresistible ; the
Hungarian cavalry had fled ; and the Bohemian in-
fantry, thus left uncovered, had followed their example.
In the short space of an hour the decisive action was
over, and the unhappy King, for the personal security
of his Queen and family, sent to Maximilian to request
an armistice of twenty-four hours. This the Duke of
Bavaria refused ; and Frederick was forced to flee with
his wife and principal officers, in the night, for their
lives, leaving: the crown behind them. The occasion for
this hurried abdication was not, however, so imminent,
and gave occasion to the imputation that he, whose
weak ambition had so quickly grasped a sceptre, was in
fact a poor creature and a poltroon, for he had still
G
82 JOHN TZKIii'l.AKS, COUNT V()N TILLY.
Mansfeld's army resting idle at Pilsen, and another
force under Count Thurn within the city. Yet, pusil-
lanimous as the wretched Frederick undoubtedly was,
and utterly unfit for the elevation to which he had so
weakly aspired, lie was already in the first and last
year of his reign a royal philosopher, for he ended his
monarchy with this truism, — " I know now what I am :
there are virtues which only misfortune can teach us ;
and it is in adversity alone that princes learn to know
themselves."
Attacks But, to return to Tilly. — Thurn and his party retired
Mansfeldat towards Moravia. King Frederick and his followers
fled to Breslau. Tilly moved to attack Mansfeld, but
was unable to force him out of his camp at Pilsen. In
the Emperor's cabinet, meanwhile, the ruin of Frederick
was resolved upon, and the task of carrying the decree
for his destruction was entrusted to Maximilian, whose
victorious arms had dethroned the fugitive monarch.
Neither the power, nor a pretext of right, was now
wanting to enable him to place the Palatinate in the
possession of the Duke of Bavaria as the reward for his
timely assistance ; and Tilly the Bavarian General was
accordingly ordered to carry his army into the Pfalz.
The unscrupulous General, finding no one to oppose him,
wreaked the vengeance of the Emperor upon the sub-
jects of the pseudo-King, who was already in the fulness
of the Imperial power degraded from his Electoral dig-
nity, and declared to have forfeited his estates for taking
up arms against his Suzerain. The high place and sta-
tion in the Empire thus obtained by Bavaria has re-
mained with it to our times, until, at the destruction
of the German polity, the Electorate was turned into a
kingdom by the power of Napoleon.
Defeats the Tilly was at this time directed to possess himself
Duke of either by force or otherwise of the States of Hesse ; and
" he took up his winter quarters in that principality in
1G21 ; but in the following year Frederick entered the
Lower Palatinate in disguise, and brought the " tower
JOHN TZERCLAES, COUNT VON TILLY. 83
of strength of his name" to the protection of a new
army under Mansfeld. George Frederick, Margrave of
Baden, who had assembled a considerable military force
for the Evangelical Union, came to his aid, and suddenly
took the field, uniting his forces with those of Mans-
feld. The Duke of Wurteraberg likewise augmented
his military strength ; so that the courage of the Pala-
tine for a moment revived. It was now high time
for Tilly to look around him ; and he sent to summon
the Spanish army under Corduba out of the Nether-
lands to come up to his assistance. The armies of
the Margrave and Mansfeld having, however, very
unwisely separated in 1622, Tilly immediately fell upon
the latter, and defeated him near Wimpfen. He next
selected for his antagonist Christian, Duke of Bruns-
wick, Administrator of Halberstadt, and, coming up
with him at the town of Hochst, on the Maine, dis-
puted with him the passage of that river in a mur-
derous action. On the Duke's forming a junction with
Mansfeld, Tilly pursued the united host into Alsace,
and thence returning into the Palatinate, now denuded
of all defenders, Heidelberg, with the magnificent
palace of the fugitive King, was stormed by the
savage soldiery, who wreaked such a vengeance upon
this splendid pile as may be witnessed to this clay.
The valuable library was seized by the General, and
transmitted to his patron Maximilian, who sent it
as a present to Pope Gregory XVI., as a means of
reassuring himself of the Pontiff's favour. It probably
forms part of the treasures of the Vatican, where the
finest collection of books and manuscripts in the world
does nothing for the maintenance of religion, and little
for the advancement of learning. Duke Christian
of Brunswick, and the two brothers, William and Bern-
hard of Saxe Weimar, still kept the field, and, having
collected together 22,000 men and 15 guns, marched on
Osnabriick, near which, on the 8th of August, 1023,
Tilly came up with them, at Steinfurt on the Aa, and
Cx 2
8 t JOTLN TZERCLAES, COUNT VOX TILLY.
by a vigorous attack on their outposts forced them to
fall back on Stadtloen in the Bishopric of Monster,
where he obtained an easy victoiy over them on the
10th, taking all their guns, together with SO colours,
and obliging the leaders to seek their personal safety on
the confines of Holland. Brunswick, in consequence
of this victory, formally seceded from the Union, and
embraced the party of the League ; and the Hanse-
towns also recalled their troops, and desisted from fur-
ther opposition against the Emperor.
Storms The Union was now paralyzed : no Protestant Prince
The I'"o was m arms- But, on the frontiers of Lower Germany,
tcstantsbe- Tilly, at the head of his victorious army, encamped on
star them- ^0 Protestant territory. Manhcim was taken by storm,
and burnt to the ground. The Administrator's maga-
zines at Lippstadt were confiscated. Catholicism was
imposed on the whole of the Pfalz. But although there
was no enemy in the field, the Protestants yet pre-
dominated in Lower Germany, in which the Church
had been forcibly deprived of most of its endowments,
and the present appeared a favourable moment to the
Catholic party for recovering these lost possessions.
A great part of the strength of the Lower German
Princes consisted in these chapters ; and, although they
were frightened and humiliated, they were not yet
reduced to the call of " Stand and deliver ;" so that
the dread of a general and forcible suppression of Pro-
testantism throughout German}* raised the popular
interest against their remaining inactive in this danger.
The King The remembrance of the ravages which Tilly's army
of Den- ]iac| committed in Lower Saxony, caused that Province
mark dene- , , _ .
ralissimoof «° De the first to take up arms again; and they ad-
the troops dressed themselves for subsidies and assistance to their
Union. Protestant brethren in England, Penmark, and Sweden.
It was some time deliberated what power to place at
the head of the Evangelical Confederacy ; and Den-
mark having been suggested by England, Christian IV.
hastened, in 102-1, to place himself at the head of the
JOHN TZERCLAES, COUNT VON" TILLY. 85
troops of the Union. The Dukes of Brunswick and
Mecklenburg rejoined the alliance, and an army of
60,000 men was raised, of which the King of Denmark
took the command, as Generalissimo. Negotiations,
exhortations, commands, and threats, were employed
by the Emperor in vain to recall Lower Saxony to its
obedience to him, and to frighten Christian out of the
field, until at length Tilly was set in motion with his
army. The King was sufficiently wise and prudent to
avoid any thing that was likely to bring on a decisive
action, though Tilly sought it incessantly.
The Emperor had hitherto waged war with the arms
of Bavaria and the League, and had no army of his
own in the field. This dependence on others was
galling to his pride, and ill accorded with the grand
schemes which the Imperial Cabinet had been led to
form from the prosperous conduct and brilliant com-
mencement of the war. His Majesty felt that an
army under his own orders only could establish the pre-
eminence of Austria in Germany ; but the Imperial
dominions had been so laid waste, that they were ex-
hausted, and the Emperor was accordingly quite un-
equal to the undertaking. In this emergency he was The Em-
saved by the prompt appearance upon the scene of the Pe.ror ^
most famous of all the Generals of that time — Albrecht \yallen-
von Wallenstein, who offered to raise and clothe an stem,
army for the Emperor at his own expense and that of
his friends. The offer was at first treated as the
chimerical offspring of a visionary brain, but never-
theless it was gratefully accepted, and in a few months
Wallenstein collected 20,000 men under arms. The
orders given to Wallenstein were, to form a junction
with Tilly, and to attack the King of Denmark ; but
before he commenced his march he had already aug-
mented his forces to 40,000 men.
In August, 1625, Tilly encountered the Duke ofThelnipe-
Saxe Weimar at Stolzenau, but was forced to retreat j^cl^and '
upon Gottingen, where he was joined by Wallenstein. totally de-
86 JOHN TZEBCLAES, CO! NT VOX TILLY.
feat the Now therefore, for the first time in this war, an Impe-
,V"~ " , rial army appeared in Germany with a force calculated
Denmark * ri J
at Lutter. to destroy the Protestant cause. But the two leaders
of the Catholic League were, singularly enough (for
they were quite unknown to each other), jealous of each
other from tho very commencement, and indisposed to
act together. Disoheying therefore his orders to act
in concert with the General of the League, Wallenstein
marched to Dessau, and there made himself master of
the bridge across tho Elbe. The King of Denmark
forthwith ordered Mansfeld to march against Wallen-
stein, and endeavour to interpose himself between the
two armies of the enemy, while the King occupied
himself with Tilly, who detached a part of his horse
into Westphalia to seize the Bishoprics of Munster and
Osnaburg. Tilly spread the terror of his name through-
out the Lutheran States, and, taking up a position at
Minden, laid siege to Gottingen ; on which Christian
sent four regiments of infantry and six of horse to the
Kallemberg, to draw him away from that object ; but
Tilly, on the 29th of June, 1626, sent 4000 men under
General Furstenberg, who drove them back, and Got-
tingen surrendered to him next day. Tilly then medi-
tated a similar attack upon Nordheim, in the Duchy
of Brunswick, before which place he sat down, but was
taken seriously ill : and his adversary, hearing that
the General of the League was sick, moved forward
16,000 men to the relief of Nordheim, and succeeded in
throwing into the place the necessary supplies for a long
siege. The King, however, lingered so long in this
operation that Tilly recovered, and, receiving some
reinforcements from Wallenstein's army, followed by
forced marches after Christian, who had already reached
Duderstadt, and there came up with him. The King,
to avoid an attack, retreated towards Brunswick, but
Tilly incessantly pressed upon his rear, and at length
brought the army of the Union to bay near the village
of Lutter under the Baremberg in 1627. The Danes
JOHN TZEECLAES, COUNT TON TILLY. 87
commenced the battle gallantly, and thrice did their
intrepid monarch lead them against the enemy ; but at
length numbers and the better discipline of the Impe-
rialist forces prevailed, and Tilly defeated them with
the loss of 8000 men, 22 guns, and the King's military
chest ; 4000 men and several officers of distinction
were killed, and a great number of prisoners laid down
their arms.
Christian himself fled from the field with his cavalry, Invades
and was enabled to collect together again the wreck of enmai '
his army which had survived the serious defeat at Lut-
ter. Tilly, however, was not in the mean while inactive,
but, pursuing his victory, made himself master of the
Weser and Brunswick, and forced the King to retire
to Bremen. Rendered more cautious by defeat, the
army of the Protestant Union again acted on the de-
fensive ; but the forces of the League spread themselves
along the Elbe and Havel, and every where drove the
Danes before them. Wallenstein in the mean while re-
turned from Hungary, where he had utterly destroyed
Mansfeld's army, and immediately united with Tilly to
pursue their advantages against the King of Denmark
by removing the seat of war into the heart of his do-
minions. The Protestants had been unable to cope
with Tilly alone, and with a now shattered force could
not hold their ground against the confederated Imperial
Generals. The greater part of Mecklenburg was ac-
cordingly overrun by Imperial troops, and Wallenstein,
with little or no opposition, set his foot in Holstein.
In 1627, Tilly, anxious to bring the Danish campaign
to a close, seized Hamel, and, crossing the Elbe at
Brissenburg, also entered Holstein. Hitherto unvaried
success had attended the arms of the League, and
Christian IV., defeated and driven out of Germany,
sought refuge amidst his own islands ; when the Baltic
checked the further progress of the concpieror, who
nevertheless, in 1628, planted the Imperial standard in
Jutland. The German Princes now in a sad and un-
88
JOIIN TZERCLAES, COUNT TON TILLY.
Tilly con-
cludes a
peace at
Lubeck
with the
King of
Denmark.
Tilly re-
ceives the
command
worthy spirit of selfishness left the Danes unaided, and
made their own terms with the Emperor. The Land-
grave of Hesse Cassel set the hase example of deserting
his Protestant brethren ; hut the Landgrave William, a
man every way worthy of his noble ancestry, adhered
to the cause of religion and honour.
AYallenstein applied for and obtained from the
Emperor a grant of the Duchy of Mecklenburg, which
he had overrun and conquered ; and having thus become
a neighbour of Denmark, and a sort of brother Sove-
reign, he resolved, even at the sacrifice of his Suzerain's
interests, to secure its alliance; and Christian IV.,
finding himself utterly without protectors, readily re-
ceived the proposition made to him. It would appear,
however, that Tilly had been won over to concur in
this act ; for it is stated that it was he who concluded
the peace at Lubeck in 1629, by which the King of
Denmark ingloriously retired from the field, and with-
drew altogether from the German contest.
Ferdinand had it now in his power, for the second
time, to secure the tranquillity of Germany ; and it de-
pended solely upon his will whether the treaty of Lubeck
should or should not be the basis of a general settle-
ment. But the good understanding between the Em-
peror and the Princes of the League had rapidly declined
since the employment of Wallenstein. In the Diet held
at Patisbon in 1630, the haughty conqueror attended
in person as Duke of Mecklenburg ; and although the
Duke of Bavaria was present, with the electoral cap on
his head, as the prize of his share and his success in the
great conflict, he could not bear, after having been so
long accustomed to sway the Imperial power, to see
himself supplanted by this new comer, and his own
state and importance seemed tarnished by the arrogance
of the new Duke of Mecklenburg, who appeared at the
Diet with a pomp which threw even his Imperial
master into the shade. His dismissal from his post at
the head of an Imperial army, now that the League
JOHX TZERCLAES, COTJTN'T TON" TILLY. 89
appeared secure from its enemies, was loudly demanded of the Im-
by the whole college of electors ; and the Emperor in P®™*
an evil moment for his fortune listened to the earnest
suggestions of a Capuchin friar l, and determined on the
impolitic act of dismissing his great General, who had
nearly 100,000 men under his command, and whose
name was worth more than even another such an army.
The command of the Imperial armies was now conferred
on Tilly absolutely.
Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, was one of the Gustavus
most zealous and conscientious advocates of the Re- Adolphus
becomes
formation, and indeed he owed his crown to his faith, the leader
for his family had been preferred by the Swedes to the of the Pro-
legitimate heir to the throne, who had adhered to Union.
Catholicism. His name had indeed been frequently in
the mind of the Protestant Union since the commence-
ment of the war, and came more especially before them
at the time that the King of Denmark received the
direction of their cause ; but he was deemed by some
to be too young for the post, and Christian's ambitious
view upon the leadership had induced him to stir up a
war, between Sweden and Poland, which kept the Swede's
hands occupied, and had thus prevented his prudent
young rival, the Swedish King, from embarking in a
new and dangerous war. But the intrigues of Cardinal
Richelieu, who made it the peculiar policy of France to
be jealous of the power of the House of Austria, con-
trived to bring about a truce with Poland after the
young King had defeated King Sigismund ; and a peace
was concluded that gave the Province of Livonia to the
Swedish dominions. There was therefore now no longer
1 Ferdinand's narrow-minded bigotry had an influence upon
his actions that can scarcely be credited. Schiller relates, on
the authority of some writing of the Emperor's own confessor,
" Nothing on earth was more sacred in his eyes than a priest.
If it should happen that an Angel and a Regular were to meet
him at the same time and place, the Regular would receive the
first, and the Angel his second obeisance."
90 JOHN TZEnCTiA.ES, COUNT VON TILLY.
any hesitation on the part of the Protestant Union in
claiming the assistance of Gustavus ; and the heroic
King landed with an army of 1G,000 men at Usedom,
in Pomerania, on the 24th of June, 1G30. The troops
which had fought under Mansfeld, Christian of Bruns-
wick, the King of Denmark, and even in the army of
Wallenstein, — officers and soldiers,— came in crowds
to serve under the attractive standard of the Swedish
King. The exiled Duke of Mecklenburg, driven to de-
spair by the refusal of the Emperor to restore to him
his duchy, openly espoused the cause of Gustavus, and,
raising troops for his assistance, gave the command of
them to the Duke of Saxe Lauenburg.
Tilly takes An Imperial General, Torquato Conti, commanded in
the t'uld Pomerania ; and, although too deficient in troops and
(Xustavus. money to act upon the offensive against the King, he
hoped, by a defensive policy, to give time to Field-
Marshal Tilly to come up to his assistance. But the
Imperialists had been ordered to rally about Branden-
burg, where Tilly had assumed the command. He was
far from imdervaluing his antagonist. " The King of
Sweden," said he, at the Diet at ltatisbon, " is an
enemy both prudent and brave, inured to war, and in
the flower of his age. His plans are excellent, his
resources considerable, his soldiers enthusiastically at-
tached to him. His army, composed of Swedes, Ger-
mans, Livonians, Finlanders, Scots, and English, by its
devoted obedience to their leader, is blended into one
nation : he is a gamester, in playing with whom, — not
to lose, is to win a great deal."
Lays siege Tilly collected with all expedition the Imperial
to Magde- troops, which were now scattered all over the Empire ;
but it required time to obtain from the impoverished
and exhausted Provinces the necessary supplies to
enable him to take the field. At length, about the
middle of winter, ho led 20,000 men into Pomerania ;
but as the King, who had already obtained possession
of Demmin and Colberg, was prepared to contest the
JOHN TZEBCLAES, COUNT VON TILLY. 91
passes leading into that Province with a far superior
army, Tilly saw the necessity of abandoning his for-
ward plan of operation, and fell back to Magdeburg,
before Avhich he sat down to besiege it. Pappenheim
was at the same time sent to check the advance of the
Mecklenburghers under Lauenburg ; but by the cap-
ture of Demmin the King made himself a free passage
to protect the Mecklenburg General, and was content
to send Dietrich Falkenberg to be the Governor of
Magdeburg, who was cordially received in that capacity
by the magistrates and burghers. Magdeburg, one of
the most flourishing towns of Germany, maintained a
republican independence, which inspired its citizens
with a brave heroism, as it had deeply imbued them
with Protestant opinions. A superior officer, styled
Administrator, had obtained their confidence and con-
currence to defend their liberties, and had raised troops,
and made preparations against the probabilities of a
siege, before Gustavus sent them this distinguished
military governor. Tilly haughtily summoned the
Elector of Saxony to comply with " the Edict of Res-
titution," and to order Magdeburg to submit ; and,
on receiving from the Prince a spirited and resolute
refusal, he repaired in person to command his forces
before Magdeburg, on the 30th of March, 1631, in
order to push the siege with vigour.
Pappenheim was therefore called back from Meek- Tilly is re-
lenburg, and the outworks were soon carried, when p°* g^_ y
Falkenberg, drawing his garrison in from the points heim at
he could no longer hold, destroyed the bridge over Magde-
the Elbe, and concentrated the defence. The suburbs
of Sudenberg and Neustadt were at once abandoned
to the enemy, who reduced them to ashes ; and Tilly,
in order to carry forward his approaches on both sides
of the river, sent Pappenheim across the Elbe, at
Schonenbeck, to attack the town on one side, while he
proceeded with the works on the other. The garrison
scarcely exceeded 2000 infantry and a few hundred
JOHN TZEHCLAES, COUNT TON TILLY.
horse of regular troops; but the citizens had been
armed, although their want of discipline made them hut
an indifferent reinforcement. Nevertheless religious
zeal, an ardent love of liberty, an invincible hatred to
the Austrians, and the expectations of relief from Gus-
tavus, banished all thoughts of surrender ; and they
resolved to defend themselves to the last extremity.
Tilly, who fully expected that a few days might in
truth bring down the King of Sweden to their aid,
despatched a trumpeter to the Administrator and Go-
vernor, offering terms of capitulation ; but he received
for answer, that they would rather die than surrender.
The King's arrival at Potsdam, and the advance of his
outposts to Zerbst, so filled the Generalissimo with un-
easiness, that he made a second and more favourable
offer; but this only increased the confidence of the
besieged ; and, as will be seen in the sequel, caused
some negligence in the defence. The enemy now
pushed their approaches as far as the ditch, and by the
continual bombardment the walls had crumbled much,
and the hot shot had set the town in flames in several
places ; but owing to the excellent precautions that
had been adopted by the Governor, the fires had been
extinguished ; and a lofty tower that had been over-
thrown having fortunately fallen sidewise on to the
walls, and not into the ditch, it did not facilitate an
assault. The ammunition of the besieged, however,
began to fail, and the fire of the town accordingly
responded more and more feebly to the cannon of the
Imperialists.
Tilly had abandoned the hope of obtaining possession
of the town by regular approaches before the arrival of
the Swedes, and therefore now determined to hazard a
general assault. It was the 9th of May, when on a
sudden the fire of the besiegers ceased, and it was seen
from the walls that the cannon was being withdrawn
from the batteries. A deathlike stillness pervaded the
Imperial camp, and the besieged, soldiers as well as
JOHN TZERCLAES, COUNT VON TILLY.
citizens, were convinced that the Swedish deliverance
was at hand. In this confidence, after the fatigue of
the night-watch, the posts were abandoned at early
morning, and all were indulging themselves after
their long toils in a sound sleep. A signal of cannon
fire at about seven in the morning failed to awake
them ; when at that hour Pappenheim from one side,
and Tilly from the other, although there was no breach
effected, escaladed the walls, where there was an easy
rampart and a dry ditch, and suddenly appeared in
the town. Falkenberg, aroused by the musketry fire,
hastened from the Town-hall, where he alone was vigi-
7 ©
lant, and hurried to the gate, which he found already
in possession of the enemy, when the intrepid General,
getting some of his men together, fell upon some of
the Imperialists, whom he perceived to be scaling the
walls, and, at the first encounter, fell dead on the ram-
part. The citizens, awakened by the firing, hastened
to share the danger ; but the Governor being killed,
their efforts were made without plan or co-operation,
and at last their ammunition began to fail them. Be-
fore noon all the works were carried by the besiegers,
and the town was in the enemy's hands. Tilly marched
in with his infantry, and, occupying the principal street,
planted his cannon so as to command every approach ;
and the unhappy inhabitants withdrew into their houses,
to await their destiny.
The period of a storm is generally one of silence ; Cruelty of
but a more humane general than Tilly would have felt . ®.?1P?"
, . . . riaust sol-
that, with an unbroken military force in the very cen- diery.
tre of the town, he might have restrained the violence
of his men ; but he never made the attempt : the sol-
diery broke into the houses to indulge their brutal
appetites, and their insatiate love of plunder ; and now
commenced a scene of horrors for which history has
scarcely a parallel. The soldiery spared neither age
nor sex. The Germans are said to have exercised some
slight forbearance ; but the Croats committed cruelties
!>! JOHN TZEUCLAES, COUNT TON TILLY.
unknown even to savage life. In a single church, Into
which the women had fled for refuge, fifty-three were
found beheaded while kneeling before the shrine of
St. Catherine. One of these miscreants boasted that
he had stuck twenty heads of babes on his pike.
Many of them threw the children into the flames, but
retained the defenceless mothers and daughters to
the double sacrifice of virtue and life. The noblest
acts of devotion are recorded of these heroic women.
One young lady of quality, seized by an officer, begged
the use of her hands to wipe her eyes, and when re-
leased plunged into the river and was drowned. Other
young girls also cast themselves into the Elbe. Many
leaped into the flames of the burning houses, to escape
from the brutality of the soldiers. The town had, in
fact, in the confusion been fired in several places, and
the wind rising rapidly so increased the flames, that
137 houses, and the old Cathedral, which was esteemed
fire-proof, were all that in a few hours remained of the
once proud city of Magdeburg. About 4000 persons
took up their refuge in these buildings, where they
were for more than three days without food.
Barbarous Tilly never ordered any sack, but maintained a
excesses gloomy and fatal silence. Some officers of the League
committed ° J . .
by Tilly's ventured to remind their General that he had it in
troops. hjg pOWer to stop the carnage. " Return in an hour,"
said he, " and I will see what I can do : the soldier
must have some reward for his danger and his toils."
It was not, however, till five days subsequently — the
14th of May — that Tilly appeared himself in the town,
and put a stop to these disorders. In the interval
it is related that he mislit have been seen mounted
on a bony charger, contemplating the ruin and havoc
under which Magdeburg was writhing, and looking
with stolid indifference on the thousands of bodies
floating down on the waters of the Elbe. The de-
scription given of his figure is a most graphic carica-
ture of the outward man. He was in person a tall,
JOHN TZEBCLAES, COUNT VON TILLY. 95
thin, haggard-looking individual, with a pointed chin,
and a great deal of hair about his face. He
was generally attired in a long slashed green satin
jacket with slashed sleeves, with one single red feather
depending from a small high-peaked hat, under which
large piercing eyes peered from beneath a deeply-
furrowed brow of considerable breadth. His face was
sallow, ghastly, hollow-cheeked, with a stiff moustache,
like a brush, under a long pointed nose. The ap-
pearance of the man was terrific and vulture-like, with
an indescribable wildness of demeanour. His return to
the place after it had been partially cleared of ashes
and dead bodies was accompanied with an act of some
compassion. He sent to promise the wretched refugees
quarter, and commanded bread to be distributed among
them. The Administrator, who had been taken pri-
soner after receiving three wounds, with three of the
burgomasters, was pardoned. The whole number of
the slain was reckoned at no less than 30,000 persons ;
and Tilly wrote to the Emperor that since the de-
struction of Jerusalem there had been no such spectacle
as Magdeburg had presented.
Tilly announced its fall to the Protestant Princes in Gnstavus
the tone of a conqueror, and lost no time in making ^.charged
the most of the consternation it had created. These electing to
complained loudly and generally against the King of aid Magde-
Sweden, who with so large an army in the very ur*'
neighbourhood, had left the heroic city of the allies
to its fate ; and Gustavus was under the necessity
of publishing to the world a justification of his con-
duct. Injurious as the immediate consequences of
the King's delay in advancing were to the Protestant
cause at the moment, its remoter effects were most
advantageous. The German freedom rose again like
a phoenix out of the ashes of Magdeburg.
The Elector of Brandenburg was the brother-in-law Tilly in-
of Gustavus, and, cold as he was in the cause of religion vac^'s
and liberty, and alone swayed by self-interest, yet the °n^ '
presence of the Swedish army in his capital and terri-
96 JOHN TZERCLAES, COUNT VON TILLY.
tory brought him to his senses, and forced him to pro-
nounce for the Protestant Union. Among the Princes
of the Leipzig Confederation, the Elector of Saxony
and the Landgrave of Hesse were still wavering in the
cause of independence. Tilly therefore first directed
his attack against the latter, and marched straight
from Magdeburg into Thuringia. The Imperialist
General sent to demand of the Landgrave the imme-
diate disbanding of his army, and the reception of the
Emperor's troops into his territories and fortresses.
The intrepidity of this Sovereign's reply was admirable,
with the dreadful fate of Magdeburg so fresh in his
mind. " To admit foreign troops into my capital and
fortresses I am not disposed : my troops I require for
my own purposes ; and as for the threat of an attack,
I can defend myself. If General Tilly wants money or
provisions, let him go to Munich, where there is plenty
of both." The immediate result of this spirited reply
was the advance of a detachment of the Imperialist
army under Count Fugger, who endeavoured to excite
the Hessians to rebellion ; but the Estates of Hesse did
not hesitate for a moment to stand by their Landgrave.
The Elector of Saxony, without taking any warning
from Tilly, continued his preparations for resistance,
and adhered to the Confederation of Leipzig. Tilly,
from his camp at Wolmerstadt, commanded him by a
special messenger to open his territories to the march
of the Imperial troops, and to disband his forces, or
join them to the Imperial army. In reply, he forbade
the quartering of the Emperor's army in his territories,
and announced his firm determination to persist in his
warlike preparations. In order to frighten him into
compliance, Tilly sent deputies to the Elector to remind
him, that, of all the German states, Saxony had hitherto
been the most respected ; and he threatened, in case of
pertinacious disobedience, to visit it with the most de-
structive ravages. Tilly's deputies were entertained
with a princely reception, and with something of an
ironical civility they were told, " that the Saxon con-
JOIIN TZERCLAES, COUNT VON TILLY. 97
fectionery which had been so long kept back was at
length to be set upon the table ; but as it is usual to
mix with it nuts and garnish of all kinds, Gentlemen,
take care of your teeth."
Tilly instantly broke up his camp ; and, before Gus- Captures
tavus could move to prevent it, he invaded Saxony with eiPzlS-
the most frightful devastation. The Elector, roused
by the cries of his people, obeyed the pressure of cir-
cumstances, and fulfilled their ardent desire by pro-
nouncing openly for the Protestant Union ; and the
King of Sweden, though inferior in force to the army
of the League, which had lately been reinforced by
25,000 veteran troops under Furstenberg, advanced
with fearless speed to drive the invader out of the
Saxon territories. Tilly had in the mean time advanced
to Leipzig, and summoned it to receive an Imperial
garrison ; and on the second day the gates were opened
to him by Hans Vor der Pforta, the Saxon commandant,
and he prepared to bring the King of Sweden to the
ordeal of a battle.
Early in the morning of Wednesday, the 7th Sep- Battle of
tember, 1631, called by the Germans Dies Regince, the ^tefi' ov
Swedes and Imperialists confronted one another on the feid.
broad plain of the Elster. The Imperial army num-
bered 24,000 infantry, and 11,000 horse, with 26 guns,
and were placed on a gentle height between Breitenfeld
and Soehausen, having the little brook of the Loder,
with its marshy banks, and village of Podelwitz, in
front of the position. Here the Field-Marshal was
disposed to await the reinforcements which were on
their way to him under Altringer and Tiefenbach. As
soon as the confederate Swedes and Saxons had crossed
the Mulda, the impetuosity of Pappenheim obliged Tilly
to alter his arrangement. He saw plainly that it was
not his interest to fight unless urged to it by some un-
foreseen and irresistible necessity. He determined
within himself either to fortify his camp, or evade a
battle altogether. It was a favourite maxim with him
ii
OS JOHN TZERCLJlES, count von tillt.
" never to dip his foot into water till he had ascertained
how cold it was;" and another was, "never to wade a
stream, unless he could see or feel the bottom of it."
With these views lie called a council of war at the
grave-digger's house, at which Tilly had his head-
quarters, and where Schomherg and some of the elder
officers concurred with the Field-Marshal on the desira-
bleness of declining a general battle, if that were pos-
sible. Pappenheim, with Furstenberg and the younger
Colonels, opposed this ; but the majoi'ity concurred
with the Commander-in-Chief. A fair champaign dis-
trict spreads itself all round the city of Leipzig, in
which Breitenfcld is situated. The spot is historic, for
here the Emperor Charles V. overcame and took prisoner
the Elector of Saxony ; and it had from that or other
causes received the name of " God's acre." The two
armies were at some distance, but within sight of each
other, and the Imperial camp was protected with some
slight intrenchments. The infantry, which had been
placed in two lines, were now drawn up in a single line ;
and the artillery was so disposed upon the elevation be-
hind it as to sweep the extensive plain of Breitenfeld.
The cavalry were in strong masses on either flank ; and
a reserve of six regiments, with cavahy intermingled,
stood in the second line. The Swedish and Saxon army
consisted of nearly 20,000 infantry and 15,000 horse,
and, crossing a swampy pass near Schortza, at once ad-
vanced in two columns to pass the Loder, when Pappen-
heim, though ordered by Tilly not to commence a battle,
fell upon the advance with 2000 cuirassiers, but, after a
brief straggle, was forced to retreat, after setting fire to
Podelwitz. Tilly sent up troops in support, but could
not prevent the King from advancing, and forming in
order of battle. As soon as Tilly saw this, he turned
round to his staff, and said, " Now, my old friends, we
must look for blows." On the right the Swedes drew
up in two lines, the infantry in the centre, divided into
columns that could be easily and rapidly manoeuvred,
JOHN TZERCLAES, COUNT TON TILLY. 99
without disturbing the order of the line. The cavalry
were formed on the flanks, divided by squadrons in the
King's manner, having musketeers interspersed in the
intervals to annoy the enemy's horse. There were 100
iron four-pounder guns arranged in front of the army,
the left of which was commanded by Gustavus Horn,
the right by the King in person, while Colonel Teufel
commanded the centre. A considerable interval divided
the Swedes from the Saxons ; which was an arrangement
concurred in between the King and the Elector when
organizing the battle. Pappenheim was opposed to the
King on the part of the Imperialists ; and Furstenberg
to Teufel. Tilly himself commanded in the centre.
The numbers on either side were nearly equal, — about
34,000 or 35,000 horse and foot each. A cannonade of
two hours commenced the battle ; but the wind hap-
pened to blow so as to carry the clouds of smoke right
into the faces of the Swedes.
Tilly moved first, and fell upon the Saxons, and with
such impetuosity as to break their line and throw the
whole army into confusion. The Croats, who formed
the attacking force, immediately commenced plundering,
and the two forces were in consequence thrown into
disarray and intermixed with each other. Pappenheim
carried the entire force of cavalry against the right
wing of the Swedes, but was opposed by Baner, under the
King, who stood firm under the assaidt, which, though
renewed, could never succeed ; so that at length Pap-
penheim abandoned the field to his adversary. Tilly, as
soon as he had crushed the Saxons, turned against the
left wing of the Swedes. Here Horn opened his guns
upon him, which kept the Imperial cuirassiers at bay,
while the infantiy, interspersed with horsemen, proved
their formation completely effective. The Imperialists
were already beginning to relax the vigour of their
attack, when the King, having no longer an enemy in
his immediate front, wheeled his main body to the
h 2
100
JOHN TZETtCLAES, COUNT VON TILLY.
left, and attacked tlio heights on which the Imperial
artillery were posted, and captured all their guns,
which (as soon as lie had gained possession of
them) he turned upon the enemy. In this part
Tilly is de- of the field were posted the Walloon guards, a
frated by famous p,ot|y 0f Castilians, who hoasted that they
Gustiivus, J ' J
and wound- had never yet fled from a field, and who now con-
<•(! in ac- tinued firm under a murderous fire, retreating to
a thicket near Soehausen, where, though reduced to
GOO men, they yet maintained then* resistance. Tilly,
Weeding from several wounds, made in the mean
while the most desperate attempts to regain his artil-
lery, while his army fled away from him on every
side. The Field-Marshal owed his escape to mere
chance. Exhausted hy loss of hlood, he was summoned
to surrender hy one Longfritz (or Longsides), a Swedish
captain of horse, whom he stretched on the ground hy
a pistol shot, when Cronenberg, at the head of the
Walloons, came to the rescue, and carried the Field-
Marshal safe from the field. Seven thousand of the
Imperialists were killed on the ground they stood
upon ; and more than 5000 were either wounded or
taken prisoners. The entire artillery and camp, with
more than 100 standards, were the prizes of the vic-
tory. Amid the dead and wounded Gustavus Adolphus
threw himself on his knees, and the first joy of victory
gushed forth in fervent prayer to the great Giver of
it. The wreck of the Imperialists was so complete, that,
on reaching Halberstadt, Tilly could not rally GOO men,
nor Pappenheim more than 1400 ; and the Field-Mar-
shal from this moment never again recovered his cheer-
fulness or good fortune ; — all former victories were as
nothing to him, since he was now surviving his well-
earned reputation, and losing at a blow the fruits of a
career which the gain of this one victory would have
crowned with glory. Not without piety almost as fer-
vent as that of his triumphant adversary, but of a
totally different character, Tilly, dejected and sad, sat
JOHN TZEBCLAES, COUNT VON TILLY. 101
down in his head-quarters, at Halberstadt, and smote
upon his breast, saying, —
" Ich habe ja mein Bestes gethan,
Doch kont ich Gott nicht wiederstahn."
The Generahssimo was not, however, a man to sit
down and pout. Scarcely allowing time for the cure
of his wounds, he was again in the saddle, and hurried
towards Lower Saxony to recruit his forces from the
Imperial garrisons about the Weser 2.
Gustavus was equally on the alert, and made himself Gustavus
master of Merseburg and Halle with little difficulty. and Tmy
But the question was, what to do next ? To have fresh en-
followed after Tilly would have been to place the seat counters,
of war in a mere corner of Germany, while the King
found himself in the South amidst a friendly people,
enthusiastic in the Protestant cause, with the road clear
to Vienna, which lay open and defenceless before him.
But Tilly was not slow in recovering his strength, and
was not likely to allow his enemy to walk over the
course without coming quickly upon his trace. " The
old devil," as Gustavus, writing to the Pfalzgraf,
called Tilly, " is already in arms again." He could
not hope that the Saxon army under such a general as
Arnheim, of whose military skill the field of Breiten-
feld had afforded but equivocal proof, would be of suffi-
cient avail to stop Tilly if he should regain strength,
and by a series of rapid successes attain again to a
superiority that should animate the courage of the
party of the League, which it was well known would be
but temporarily depressed. At this conjuncture the
Emperor and the Princes were assembled in a Diet at
Frankfort on the Maine ; and the King thought that
by marching on that place he might paralyze the Im-
2 In a volume in the British Museum, entitled " Caricatures of
the Thirty Years' War," there are bound up some very curious
prints of the battle of Leipzig, as the victory of Breitenfeld is
popularly called, showing the dress and arming of the soldiery of
the two armies, and the formation and order of battle of the con»-
tending forces, all very clearly pourtrayed.
102 JOHN TZEKOLAES, COUNT VON TILLY.
perial power, and encourage the Protestant Princes in
their opposition to the Emperor, and by the prestige
of his presence determine the wavering ; while on the
other hand he well knew that his approach to the
Rhine would have a considerable influence on his
French ally. Eventually he elected for the road
towards the Rhine, leaving the Elector of Saxony to
occupy Bohemia.
Tilly en- The consternation of the Emperor and of the Ca-
lttri"vcShU tholic LeaSue at TiuYs defeat at Breitenfeld was
disaster. excessive; nevertheless, they knew that they were still
powerful. In Franconia, Suabia, and the Palatinate,
the Imperialists held garrisons that could only be over-
come by dilatory sieges ; while the Spaniards were ready
to dispute with the King the passage of the Pihine, and
were in force in the dominions of the banished Elector.
Every Papist, whether German, French, or Spaniard,
was in his heart an inveterate foe to Gustavus; and
Tilly, not the least so, was already in his rear with a
fast recruiting force, augmented by auxiliaries — the
Elector of Cologne and the Prince of Lorraine — and
burning with impatience to wipe out the stain of his
defeat by a reassuring victory. He had already sent
repeated messages to Altringer, to desire him to come
speedily and join him in the Duchy of Brunswick ; and
he had put his army in order of march, and established
his head-quarters at Fulda. He earnestly requested
permission of Maximilian to carry them forward, to
give battle to Gustavus ; but the Elector was too
cautious to permit the only army remaining to the
League to be compromised by a second hazard, and
authoritatively commanded him to refrain. He was
therefore compelled to inactivity for the present ; but
nevertheless, on receiving a reinforcement of 12,000
men from Lorraine, he marched from Aschaffenburg to
disturb the King, who had sat down to the siege of
Wuxzburg. That town and citadel successively fell into
the hands of the conqueror, as well as the town of
Hanau; but Tilly contrived to save a few of the garr1-
JOHN TZEECLAES, COUNT VON TILLY. . 103
sons from the impetuosity of the Swedes, and, crossing
the Maine near Sehgenstadt, he marched to the Berg-
strasse, to protect the Palatinate from the enemy.
Charles, Duke of Lorraine, however, not only sent Is aided by
troops to the aid of Tilly, hut himself took the field of eLor. e
against the Swedes at the head of 17,000 men. This raine.
Prince appears to have been known already for
great unsteadiness of character, and a very heated
ambition. He hoped to obtain in the cause of the
Emperor the electoral dignity ; and therefore, in oppo-
sition to the suggestions of a rational policy, he at
once ran the risk of exasperating his nearest neighbour,
the King of France, and rashly measured his arm with
the Swedish King, for whom he was no match. With-
out military ability, he was a martinet in the equipment
of his troops, who were brought up against the Swedes
in the most splendid and showy accoutrements. They
were accused, however, of being very lax in discipline,
and of evincing their prowess more freely against the
defenceless peasantry than they were likely to do against
the bravery and solid formation of the Swedes. On the
first panic, from the Swedish cavalry, this splendidly at-
tired army made no stand, and fled from their canton-
ments about Wurzburg even across the Rhine. The
Duke himself, loaded with shame and ridicule, hurried to
his house at Strasburg ; and, as he passed a village near
the Ehine, it is related that a peasant struck his horse
as he passed by, crying out, " Haste, sir ; you must go
quicker to escape from the great King of Sweden."
The formidable presence of the armies of the League Lays siege
had hitherto kept down the Franconian States ; but J°^^J"
now that the seat of war had been carried towards the takes Bam-
Rhenish frontier, the Protestants held up their heads, berg,
and collected together their strength at Nuremberg,
which they placed in some condition of defence. Tilly,
unable to check the Swedish arms in the neighbour-
hood of Wurzburg, and probably acting under the
orders of his superior in taking his army nearer to
Bavaria, while Gustavus was actually across the
104 JOHN TZERCLAES, COUNT TON TILLY.
Rhine, eat down before Nuremberg, and threatened it
with the cruel fate of Magdeburg ii'it hesitated to sub-
mit to his summons. The King of Sweden no sooner
heard of the straits into which the Protestants were
brought by this vigorous action of Tilly in Franconia,
than, being unwilling to expose himself a second time to
the reproaches of Germany for betraying a confederate
city to a ruthless enemy, he suddenly abandoned the
siege of Ehrenfels across the llhine, and hastened by
forced marches to the relief of Nuremberg. Tilly no
sooner heard of the approach of the Swedish army, than,
in compliance with his orders, he raised the siege, and,
collecting fresh reinforcements, assumed a formidable
front, before which Gustavus Horn, who had been left
by the King to watch him, could effect nothing. This
Swedish General had obtained possession of the town
of Bamberg by stratagem : but the Bishop was a zealot
for the League, making no scruple of clothing himself
in armour like a cavalier, and his townsmen were
for the most part attached to him, and strongly op-
posed to the King of Sweden. The city was not sur-
rounded with walls, and was called accordingly in deri-
sion " The Large Village ; " but Horn began at once
to throw up intrenchments, which were, unfortunately,
of too great extent for his limited army. When Tilly
therefore came down upon him at the head of 1(5,000
men, the Imperial advance, consisting of 2000 in-
fantry, under Cratz and Fahrenbach, with Cronen-
berg's cavalry, fell upon some of the Swedes in their
unfinished works, and, speedily overcoming them, pur-
sued them to the head of the bridge, which Horn
only just succeeded in blowing up, and thus checked
their entrance into the city. Tilly, however, brought
up his guns, which opened so heavy a fire upon the
Swedes, that Horn sent off his guns and ammunition
across the Maine, and, taking charge himself of his
rear, succeeded in carrying all his army across that
1 '"jV s ™f* river at Eltenau, and destroying all the bridges.
MULL It*. «IL
the Lech. Tilly's success at Bamberg now urgently demanded
JOHN TZEECLA.ES, COUNT VON TILLY. 105
the King's presence in Franconia ; and, uniting him-
self at Goldensheim with the detachments of Horn,
Baner, and the Duke of Weimar, Gustavus found him-
self at the head of 40,000 men, with whom he occu-
pied Aschaffenburg. Maximilian was now imperatively
called upon to decide in what way his opponent's vic-
torious career might be checked. His General, too
weak in numbers to encounter the King, had fallen
back towards the valley of the Danube ; and it was
now for the Elector to determine whether he should
endeavour to prevent the inroad of Gustavus into
Austria, or to cover the frontiers of his own states
with tbe Bavarian army. A potent sense of his own
interest induced him at length to adopt the latter
alternative, at the risk of rendering it the seat of a
destructive war. Tilly had thrown a garrison of 1200
or 1500 men into Donauwerth, of which he had given
the Duke of Saxe Lauenberg the command, with direc-
tions to hold it as firmly as he could, or until he could
bring up his army to its assistance. The King was
sensible of the importance of this place to his opera-
tions, as it is recognized as the passage of the Danube,
tbat is, as it were, the key to Bavaria. He therefore
marched his army at the rate of twenty miles a day;
and at once, on his arrival before the place, assaulted
and gained possession of an outwork. From tbence he
sent a trumpeter to the governor, who returned this
short answer, " that the King knew better than any
man what was the duty of those who had nothing to
rely on but honour and the point of the sword ; and
that he had no tribute to pay His Majesty, except in
gunpowder." Gustavus, however, threw such vigour
and energy into his attack upon that place, that Lauen-
berg could not maintain himself in the town ; and since
Tilly was unable to raise the siege, he successfully
executed a retreat from the ramparts by marching off
under the heavy fire of the King's siege batteries. Gus-
tavus, having thus got possession of the ramparts,
secured the north bank as far as Ulm, and crossed
106 JOIIN TZERCLAES, COUNT VON TILLY.
the Danube on the 8th. And now the tributary stream
of the Lech alone divided the Imperialist and Swedish
armies. Tilly detected the design of His Swedish
Majesty of invading Bavaria by these movements;
and he accordingly broke down the bridges across the
Lech. He cantoned his troops all along the Bavarian
Bide for an extent of sixteen miles ; and, judging where
it was most likely that Gustavus would attempt to
cross, he erected some huge batteries, and placed some
chosen veteran soldiery to man them. On the side of
the Lech occupied by Tilly was the town of Bain, and
here he formed a very strongly intrenched camp, which,
surrounded by three rivers, appeared to bid defiance to
all possible attack ; and the whole course of the stream
was occupied by the Imperialists as far as Augsburg,
which was secured by a strong Bavarian garrison. The
Elector himself threw himself, with his personal guard,
into Tilly's camp, as if with some presentiment that his
fortune was centred on the battle that he saw it was
now incumbent upon him to fight.
Tilly is Gustavus had overrun the whole country around
mortally Augsburg ; and the melting snows of the Tyrol in the
month of March rendered all the many streams he had
to cross over a work of danger and difficulty, that would
cause a defeat to be attended with inevitable destruction
with such torrents in his rear ; so that when he came
up to the bank of the Lech, opposite the Bavarian in-
trenchmcnts, his council strongly urged upon him
not to attempt to cross its boiling torrent, which
threatened inevitable loss to the rash attempt both
from fire and water, and also exposed the exhausted
troops, who might in despite have successfully got
across, to the necessity of attacking a fresh and vigo-
rous enemy in an impregnable camp. But the King's
resolution was fixed. His Majesty accordingly pro-
ceeded to reconnoitre the position assumed by Tilly in
his front. It was an exceedingly strong one, having
its right flank covered by the fortified town of Rain,
defending its broken bridge ; intrenchments also corn-
wounded.
JOHN TZEItCLAES, COUNT VON TILLY. 107
manded the marshy ground that bordered the river, for
the advantage of the inequality of the banks was in
favour of the Imperial Commander ; and abattis and
every ingenious obstacle rendered exceedingly difficult
all the approaches from those points where the bridges
across the Lech had been destroyed ; while the Aicha, a
tributary, with steep banks that surrounded the camp,
was also guarded by a flying detachment of 8000 men
with guns. Tilly knew well the extraordinary im-
portance of this inlet into Bavaria, and so cantoned his
troops in greater or less divisions, as to have it in his
power to assemble himself at any point of attack. His
troops were thus disposed in good order on the banks
of the Lech opposite the Swedes for the space of sixteen
miles, and a fire of musketry and artillery never ceased,
while Tilly employed himself every hour in examining
the slopes and windings of the stream. But the ex-
perienced eye of Gustavus detected in the various
reconnaissances he made, that his side of the river,
opposite Bain, was higher by about a dozen feet
than the side of the Bavarian camp, and that at
this spot the preponderance of the Swedish artillery
could be brought to bear with considerable advantage
upon all the obstacles that had been prepared by Tilly.
Profiting therefore by this circumstance, he immediately
caused three batteries to be erected, and armed with
seventy-two field-pieces. With equal presence of mind
the King perceived a small island in the middle of the
stream, which could cover an attempt to bridge it. Tilly
apparently did not anticipate the attempt to throw a
bridge across at the place selected, or thought himself
able to prevent its being made use of; for indeed the
spot was covered with thick beds of osiers, and was
knee-deep in slime and water. It was Thursday morn-
ing, April the 5th, when the guns opened, under the
direction of the artillerist Torstenson, tearing up every
thing at 150 yards' distance : the King sent across
two boats, in which were chosen engineers, pioneers,
and soldiers, who instantly threw up mounds of earth
108 J01IN TZERCLAES, COUNT VON TILLY.
and Bide parapets ; and CJustavus, who himself witnessed
this success, remarked to his generals " that he would
now compound for a victory at the expense of 1000 or
2000 of his hest men." As soon, therefore, as Tilly
heard that the head of the Swedish column had in this
way crossed the river, he galloped up to the spot with
his second in command, General Altringer, hut had
scarcely reached the bank of the river when both were
struck with cannon shot — the one in the head, and the
other in the knee, and Tilly was so shattered by a falconet
shot, that he was brought to the ground. The loss of the
Generalissimo filled Maximilian with the utmost alarm ;
but the dying man immediately sent to his chief the
urgent advice that he would march immediately to
obtain possession of Ilatisbon, in order to secure the
advantage of placing the Danube between him and his
adversary. The Elector, therefore, acting upon this
sound advice, yielded up his impregnable position, broke
up his camp, and retreated from the field in good order.
The next day Gustavus occupied the hostile camp ; and
when he saw the preparation that had been made for
his reception, he exclaimed, " I would as soon have
burned my beard, as have had to win such a position!"
Tilly's last The wounded Tilly was carried in the Elector's
moments. coach ^0 Ingoldstadt, in which town he breathed his
last. The Elector of Bavaria sat by his bedside till he
expired. " Oh !" said Tilly to his Highness, " would that
I had expired at the great day of Leipzig, instead of
thus surviving my fame ; for it would have been both
to your advantage, and my honour ! Two things I
desire to leave on your Highness's mind, as my dying
advice, — Never break your alliance with the Emperor ;
and make General Cratz commander of your army.
That officer has courage to serve you, fidelity to con-
tent you, and parts to assist you. He will conduct
your troops with reputation, and, as he knows Wallen-
stein, will traverse the designs of that insolent man.
Not being conscious that I have ever used your High-
ness ill in the command of your armies, I shall ask no
JOIIN TZEBCLAES, COUNT VON TILLY. 109
forgiveness for myself, and am contented and thankful
to die." He then kissed the hand of the Elector, who
retired in tears. For twelve years Tilly had had an
unbroken career of victory against many renowned
antagonists, and in spite of many disproportionate
numbers against him. But his glory waned before
the superior generalship or good fortune of Gustavus
Adolphus. It was thought at the time that the
avenging manes of Magdeburg, and the effect of
retributive justice, had brought upon Tilly the later
misfortunes which tarnished the laurels of his earlier
victories. At any rate, by his death the Imperial army
and the cause of the League sustained an irreparable
loss, and Maximilian of Bavaria was deprived of a
zealous and most faithful General.
The personal appearance of Tilly has been already His per-
described, but it has been doubted whether it has been sonal aP"
coloured to the life. All agree that he was an ex- anci cha-
tremely ugly man ; but some say he was a very tall, racter.
and some that he was a very short man. He always
retained the air and manner of a monk, even at the
head of an army ; and he is said to have been remark-
able for virtues seldom found in the military profession
— chastity and temperance. He was moreover an
enemy to every species of parade, marching with his
troops in most unsoldierlike guise, mounted on a mean
and beggarly palfrey. He was, however, popular with
the soldiers, to whom he was always kind, considerate,
and liberal ; and, notwithstanding the odium that has
been attached to his memory by all history for the cruel
excesses at Magdeburg, he incurred it from no benefit
from them for himself, but solely and avowedly for his
followers. It is true that he was a very bitter Romanist,
and hated the Protestants with a most unquenchable
hatred ; and this feeling may possibly have had its in-
fluence in the cruel resolve by which he gave over that
unhappy city to desolation. It is recorded of him
that he died poor ; but whatever property he possessed
110 JOHN rZEBCLAES, COUNT VON THiLT.
he bequeathed to the old soldiers who had longest
served under him; excepting one rich diamond ring,
which had been given him by the Infanta Isabella,
which he bequeathed to the Holy Virgin of Oettingen 8.
Thus died John Tzerclaes, Count von Tilly, of whom
it may be right to observe that, bora a Walloon, he
had passed through every 6tage of military life, from a
foot soldier to the post of Generalissimo. He could
boast that he had not lost one of six and thirty actions
in which he had commanded, until conquered by the
superior generalship of Gustavus Adolphus. It may
therefore, I think, be reasonably concluded that Tilly
owed the unbroken success that attended his earlier
career to military qualities that were rather physical
than educational ; for his abilities in strategy and
tactics are never mentioned by his contemporaries.
His ardent zeal for Catholicism, which was doubtless
sincere, but which partook largely of superstition, may
have bestowed upon his character firm resolution, great
determination of purpose, self-confidence, and that con-
viction of success, through vows and prayers, which
often does something to obtain it. Moreover, there
was during the first years of the conflict more homo-
geneity in the composition of the Imperial armies than
was to be found in any other. They were all subjects
of the Emperor, and of the same faith, which they were
banded together to uphold and exalt. The troops of
Maximilian of Bavaria, which Tilly commanded, were
also better organized before the defeat at Leipzig than
any to whom they had been opposed before the arrival
of the Swedes. Tilly may certainly be placed high in
the roll of warriors for his many victories, but not in
the same first line of generate with Maurice of Nassau,
Spinola, or Count Mansfeld.
3 Schiller, Kricgs-Kunst Lexikon, Biographies, passim.
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS,
KING OF SWEDEN.
Bom 1594 Died 1633.
This great and good man was the son of Charles IX., His birth,
King of Sweden, and his Queen Christina of Holstein. Parenta&e'
He was also grandson of Gustavus Encson Wasa, the cation,
great deliverer of Sweden, who was the first Protestant
Prince that ever wore a diadem. The great name of
Gustavus is justly dear to Sweden, and the Northern
wits accordingly endeavoured to anagrammatize the
letters that form the word into Augustus ; and by the
transformation of a u into a v the attempt may be ac-
complished. Gustavus Adolphus showed many shining
natural qualities from his early childhood, and his edu-
cation was carefully fostered, and is said to have much
resembled that which had been bestowed on Henry IV.
of France ; although no two men were, perhaps, ever
more dissimilar in their after-characters. The boy was
112 GUSTAVrS ADOLPIll'S.
inured to hardships from the beginning. He was
habituated to feed wholesomely, but not luxuriously.
Heat and cold were to be borne indifferently ; and the
young man was initiated into every athletic exercise,
and learned the duties of a common musketeer almost
before he could carry a musket. At the same time that
the frame of the young Prince was thus forming for
military employment, his mind was placed under the
guidance of competent and learned tutors. The cir-
cumstances under which his family sat upon the throne
of Sweden required more particularly that he should be
modelled as a Protestant champion and defender of the
faith ; and never did there exist a youth who was so
ready and willing to devote himself to the task of up-
holding the faith of Protestantism, and whose disposi-
tion was so naturally pious. He was taught all the living
languages, and spoke Latin with fluency. He was
partial to the mathematics, and an eager student of
fortification and every military science. He had by
nature a fertile genius, and a prodigious memory, with
great docility, and a readiness in acquiring information
beyond example. It was also observed, from his earliest
manhood, by the youth who were his contemporaries
and associates, that he was remarkable for strict moral
and religious principles ; and he evinced through life
strong devotional feelings on every occasion of fortune,
whether prosperous or adverse, and was already dis-
tinguished for his resolute attachment to the faith of
which he was destined to become so illustrious a hero.
His first Having been appointed by the King, his father, to
campaign. j)e a Colonel of cavaby, Prince Gustavus made a cam-
paign against the Danes in 1611, when he had only
just attained his seventeenth year. He was ordered,
as an essai (Formes, to storm the town of Christianopel ;
which he did sword in hand, having burst open the
gate by the application of a petard ; and he entered the
town, which then was a seaport upon the Baltic be-
longing to Denmark, but which has been long since
GUSTAVTIS ADOLPHUS. 113
annexed to Sweden. Towards the conclusion of the
campaign he made a descent by night upon one of the
Danish islands, at the head of 2000 musketeers, and
had the misfortune to sink into a morass covered with
ice not sufficiently frozen, where he lay with his horse
under him struggling in the water against many enemies,
until he was relieved by a company of cavalry led for-
ward to his assistance by young Baner.
Charles IX. died at Stockholm on the 30th October His acces-
in that same year, leaving, besides Gustavus, only one flou to \.
i-ii r. • \* i • -ill throne dis-
surviving child, — Princess Catherma, married to the puted by
Count Palatine of the Ehine, and mother of Charles Sigismund.
Louis, who eventually succeeded to the throne of
Sweden. There were at the moment peculiar circum-
stances that affected the immediate accession of Gus-
tavus. John, Duke of Ostrogothia, and his half-brother
Sigismund, King of Poland, were both of them sons of
the elder brother of the late King, and therefore by the
laws of consanguinity more eligible to the crown than
Gustavus, who was only the immediate heir of his
father. But the elder branch had been put aside by
the arrangement of 1594, under which Charles IX. had
succeeded ; and although the Duke of Ostrogothia had
himself conformed to Protestantism, and was therefore
preferable to his brother King Sigismund, yet he had
generously resigned all his pretensions in favour of his
cousin, at the same time that the Queen Dowager,
step-mother to Gustavus, made a full resignation of
her claim to the Regency, which by the law of Sweden
was justly her right until the male heir should attain
his twenty-fourth year. Under all these favourable
concessions Gustavus behaved himself with very great
moderation. The Chancellor Oxenstierna, with the
consent of the Queen Dowager and Prince John, con-
vened an assembly of the States at Nicoping, to examine
into the rights of succession ; when the young Gustavus,
in a public speech, assured the assembled Senate that
his youth, inexperience, and the great difficulties of
I
114 GTJSTAYUS ADOLPnUS.
state affairs, made him anxious to decline so dangerous
a pre-eminence. " Nevertheless," he said, " if the
States persist in making me King, I will endeavour to
acquit myself with honour and fidelity." The decision
of the States was unanimous in holding firm to the
disposition of inheritance made in 1594 ; and Gustavus
being formally proclaimed King, he received the Holy
Communion, and passed through the ceremonies of
inauguration on the 31st December, 1611.
War with It was next deliberated in the Senate whether to
the Dams, prop0se a peace or truce to the Danes, Polanders, and
Musc'o- Muscovites, or to continue the war; and it was re-
vites. solved to support the young King with spirit. His
Majesty accordingly summoned a public convention
after his inauguration, to consider the ways and means
of dealing with his enemies. The situation of Gustavus
was truly critical. He had on the one hand two pro-
fessedly avowed and dangerous opponents, — the Dane
and the Muscovite, and in Sigismund, King of Poland,
a personal rival, an indefatigable pretender to his
throne and dominions, and an ardent zealot for the
Romish faith. On the other hand it had to be con-
sidered that the interior parts of his kingdom required
that new activity should be infused into agriculture
and commerce, and that particular attention should be
paid to the rich resources that might be obtained from
the mines ; and it required great tact in a young man
of eighteen, to govern a kingdom just rendered heredi-
tary in his family, and where every one of a certain
birth and rank had an unsettled affection to his person,
for they secretly repined at seeing the grandson of a
subject raised to a throne, and thought they had equal
claim, and, in a certain sense, equal pretensions with
himself. But the great characteristic of Gustavus in
every difficulty was an unalterable firmness when he
had adopted a resolve, and in this spirit he now acted.
With extraordinary resolution he kept all his nobles at
a distance and in subjection, and gave the world an early
GITSTAYFS ADOLPDUS. 115
insight into his character, by the uncommon judgment
and sagacity he displayed in rallying them to his side,
and enlisting their concurrence in his actions. He ap-
pointed to all public posts, civil and military, persons
the most remarkable for their merit, and took for his
principal counsellor the famous Oxenstierna, although
not more than ten years his senior in age, — a man
whom posterity considers in the light of a statesman
that has never been equalled.
Although soon after his accession an Ambassador Invades
from James I. of England exhorted the young King Denmark,
to make peaee with His Majesty's brother-in-law of
Denmark, yet King Christian discovered such unbe-
coming eagerness to crush, or overreach, the young
inexperienced monarch of Sweden in all his negotiations,
that Gustavus thought it expedient to give his artful
neighbour to understand that he did not in the least
fear him on a field of battle, and he deemed it advisable to
bring this to matter of proof. Accordingly he resolved
to invade the Danish territories. He forthwith entered
Norway with an army, having first given public com-
missions to privateers to interrupt the commerce of that
kingdom by sea. Christian IV. was a Sovereign of only
twenty -three years of age, and not likely to be cowed
by the young Swede. But he was stronger by land
than by sea, and accordingly laid siege to Jonkoping,
which threatened an entrance into the heart of Sweden,
and soon brought back Gustavus out of Norway in some
perplexity. Christian occupied the strong citadel which
commanded the Wetter Lake, and ruined the town and
adjacent district, but, intrenching his army judiciously,
declined fighting ; until, by perpetual checks and inter-
ruptions, he so blunted the impetuosity of his youthful
assailant, that he wearied out his patience, and mortified
his hopes ; and Gustavus, finding that he was likely soon
to have King Sigismund on his hands in Carelia, where
he would have to defend in person a district 180 miles
long and 90 broad ; and, seeing that he could not shine
i 2
11G
GUSTAVUS ADOLPlll S.
Defeats the
Russians in
Livonia.
Effects re-
forms in
the admi-
nistration,
and various
improve-
ments in
the condi-
tion of his
people.
as he expected to have done against King Christian,
he accepted the mediation of England, and on the
10th January, 1G13, concluded a peace with Denmark,
to the surprise and astonishment of Europe.
Gustavus after this sent Oxenstierna as Ambassador
to King Christian, to express his desire to establish a
permanent, substantial, and well-concerted peace with
Muscovy and Poland. The former had recently made
a new election of their Czar, at which both Sweden and
Poland had been disgusted, for one of the ancient
Demetrian race had been preferred to the families of
Vasa or Sigismund ; and accordingly the latter King
was found readily disposed to unite with Gustavus in
repelling the new Czar, who had declared war against
them. His Swedish Majesty at once took the field,
and took by storm the strong fort of Kexholm, upon
the Lake Ladoga. He then crossed the Gulf of Fin-
land, and sat down to besiege Plesko, or Pskof ; but
the Russian army, 24,000 strong, coming against him
to disturb this operation, Gustavus encountered and
defeated them on the confines of Livonia and Russia.
In the course of the summer of 1617 he carried his
army to the mouth of the Narova, where, on an island,
is situated the stupendous fortress called Notteberg
Castle, constructed by Ivan Basilowitz over the steep
banks of the river. This he took by capitulation, and
found there provisions and ammunition enough to
supply his army. But the great pacificator-general,
James I. of England, again succeeded in reconciling
the combatants ; and Gustavus returned home, having
obtained from the Muscovites, by the treaty of Stolba, a
large sum of money and a considerable slice of territory.
During the short pause from military transactions
that now occurred, the King, having convened his
States, passed through the forms and ceremonies of a
coronation at Upsal. The moderate repose he now for
a short space of time enjoyed may be looked upon
almost as the only rest he ever tasted, from the time
GUSTAVTTS ADOLPHTJS. 117
that he was an adult man to the premature close of his
brief but active life. He at this time applied himself
with uncommon diligence to comprehend the true
nature of commerce, and to the art of easing as much
as in him lay the pressure of taxes upon his people.
He also proceeded to reduce his kingdom to a more
uniform and well-connected system of government.
He made some useful alterations for the despatch of
business, so that it might not be impeded in his absence
in war. He was very sensible of the deplorable and
wretched state of the Swedish marine ; and, knowing
the extraordinary advantages of maritime strength, he
paid great attention to the affairs of the navy, and
endeavoured to obtain the best officers and mariners he
could from Holland and the Hansetowns to aid this
object.
Sigismund, King of Poland, was a Prince of a rest- Composes
less, turbulent, caballing, and ambitious spirit, and dissensions
employed all his time in projecting and executing a himself and
number of attempts to repossess the Swedish crown. Sigismund,
Political missionaries and insidious proclamations were p0iand.
dispersed in such abundance, that Gustavus was forced
to adopt acts of reprisal. But although he managed
the pen with as much address as the sword, it was most
in his nature to cut the Grordian knot of a controversy
with that instrument which he considered the most
effectual agent. Accordingly he resolved to take the
field against his adversary, and endeavoured to surprise
him by embarking under the protection of 18 ships,
and landing in the province of Livonia, when he took
Dunamond and Windau upon the Baltic. The time and
manner of making this invasion upon his neighbour
were very opportune, for Bethlem Grhabor, Prince of
Transylvania, exasperated against Sigismund for the
assistance he had given the Emperor in the Hungarian
war, had at this time formed a design for conquering
Moldavia, a part of which province belonged to the
King of Poland, and he introduced Turks and Tartars
118 QiUBTATUB ADULl'HUS.
into Poland to effect this object. This introduction of
Asiatic barbarians into an European contest had, how-
ever, tho effect of shocking the prejudices of Gusta-
vus ; and accordingly he readily listened to Sigismund's
humble request and supplication, and, though the
whole province of Livonia lay at his mercy, concluded
a two years' truce with the King of Poland, on the
principle of the uti possidetis : in the hope that the
barbarians might be chastised, and tbat he might in
the mean while settle amicably and by mutual consent
the differences that subsisted between himself and his
kinsman and neighbour.
Improves After this, Gustavus again applied liimself to depart-
and navy. men^al affairs. His navy was already so much reformed
and improved, that it obtained a respectable reputation
throughout tho whole European ocean. The military
departments were also improved in discipline, as well as
in matters of his own invention in arms and artillery.
Seeing that Sweden possessed the best steel, from which
all offensive armour was formed, and that this occa-
sioned considerable exports to Spain and Italy, he be-
thought himself to establish in his own dominions
manufactories of swords and firearms, that might equal
those from Brescia and the Ebro. He also paid up the
sums still owing to Denmark, in order that he might
take away all pretest on the part of Christian to renew
hostilities, and threaten the rear of his dominions in case
of his again going to war with Poland — an event which
he saw was likely soon to occur. He also proposed a per-
sonal interview with his brother Sovereign at a frontier
town, to which he repaired, and there passed the time
from February 25 to March 11 in friendly hospitality.
It was about this time that he inherited several
valuable territories and castles by the death of his
cousin John, Duke of Ostro and Wester-gothia. It
happened that he and Oxenstierna were lodged in one
of these residences, to settle the occupancy of this in-
heritance, and that it took fire in the night, and spread
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 119
with so much vehemence that the doors and staircases
were soon in flames. They could only save themselves
from the fury of the flames by throwing themselves out
of the windows, in which act the Minister received some
worse contusions than the Sovereign. But the danger
was not even then over, for the castle was surrounded
by a moat, which almost touched the edifice, and His
Majesty and the Chancellor were obliged to cross it by
dashing into the water and wading up to their shoulders
in water, ooze, and filth.
In the summer of the year 1620 Gustavus passed in Weds the
a disguised habit through the chief towns in Germany, gi1"068!!
and returned home by way of Berlin, in order to see
the Princess Maria Eleonora, sister of the Elector, who
was then in her twentieth year, and a beauty of a grace-
ful and majestic kind. The lady was a consort worthy
of him, both as a heroine and a Christian. It is thought
that he wooed and won the Princess in despite of her
brother the Elector, and eloped with her from the
Prussian capital. He introduced her as his Queen into
Stockholm with extraordinary pomp ; and the nuptials
having been then solemnized, he appointed the cere-
mony of her coronation for the month of November.
But while Gustavus was thus employed in the pur- Attempt
suits of love and pleasure, his Polish rival narrowly ^g^s.
escaped a sudden danger in his capital at Warsaw, mund.
where an Italian nobleman, from some personal dislike,
having concealed himself behind the door of a church,
with a small battle-axe struck Sigismund in his hand,
in the cheek, and on the shoulder, as he entered the
sacred edifice. The assailant was immediately seized
by Uladislaus, the King's son, and was put to a horrible
torture, by having his breasts torn off with hot pincers
at the two principal gates of the city, and his limbs
torn to pieces by wild horses. But the King escaped
with little hurt.
The intercourse between Sweden and Poland had Invests
been for some time in a very unsatisfactory state ; and lga'
120
GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS.
Riga sur-
renders,
after a
brave de-
fence.
Gustavus, seeing the inevitable consequence, had
secretly made great preparations for a renewal of
the contest with his kinsman, both by sea and land.
In 1G21 therefore, declining the custom, then still
prevalent, of despatching a herald to declare his inten-
tions, he embarked 24,000 men in a fleet commanded
by his Admirals, Gildenheim and Fleming, and, after
encountering a violent storm in the passage, landed
them at Mulgrab, on the coast of Livonia, the capital
of which province — Riga — he at once invested. It
stands on the river Dwina, about two leagues from its
mouth ; and the estuary of the Dwina, which is a safe
and commodious harbour, divides the city, which is
large, with a commercial population, but well for-
tified, according to the science of the times. The
King encamped with his army on the Dunes, to the
east of the river, having 7000 infantry and cavalry,
commanded by his brother Charles, Horn, Baner, and
Ruthven, under him. De la Gardie, with about 5000
men, commanded a second division, Wrangel a third,
and Claudius Fleming, brother of the Admiral, guarded
the shores, while the ships lay stationed at the river
mouth. The fortress was well prepared for defence ;
the bastions and ravelins were in good repair ; and it
was garrisoned by a considerable body of regular in-
fantry. The citizens were enthusiastic in Sigismund's
interest, and formed themselves into a militia for the
defence of their toAvn.
As this was the first siege of consequence in which
Gustavus had been engaged, it may be mentioned that
he was a very Proteus in the number of characters he
sustained, — general, engineer, pioneer, miner, and gene-
ral assailant. He would, in his eagerness to set an
example to the men, strip to his shirt, and work away
in the trenches with pick-axe and shovel ; exhorting his
brother generals, and other officers, who stood around,
to follow his example. It is said to have been a re-
mark of Charles V., " that no King had ever been killed
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 121
by a cannon-ball," and Gustavus was not an exception
to the fact, for he was amidst continual danger ; and
men a:id officers were killed and wounded on every side
of him, and yet he escaped. He sent a trumpet into
the city, with proposals of an honourable nature to the
commander and magistrates ; but with very great in-
sult they sent the messenger back to the King blind-
folded, and quite drunk. His Majesty accordingly, in
his anger, shelled the town incessantly ; but, relying on
Sigismund's promise of relieving them, the besieged
maintained their courage, and continued an energetic
defence. The Prefect of Lithuania, Radzivil, a man of
the first quality in Poland, now arrived with 10,000 foot
and 4000 horse, to the assistance of Riga, and to throw
some supplies into the town ; but he could not raise the
siege. The great strength of the King's cannon-fire
frustrated the design ; and Radzivil, without evincing
much activity or energy, was glad to march away,
leaving Gustavus to carry on his further operations
undisturbed. He now endeavoured to fill up the town-
ditch with fascines and rubbish, and rendered himself
master of a ravelin ; but the besieged sprang a mine
under the half-moon, which blew up 100 Swedish sol-
diers. Gustavus then employed the Dalecarnian miners
to circumvent the citizens, and at length effected a
breach, at which he thought to enter by the construc-
tion of a peculiar bridge of wood, which he threw across
the fosse in the night ; but the ardour of attack
brought such a crowd of men upon it, that it broke
under them ; and the garrison, sallying forth, reduced
the King's ingenious structure to a heap of ashes. An
attempt to carry an outwork by Horn and Baner also
failed ; but the King, not in the least dismayed, ap-
plied Ihmself again to mining ; and towards the middle
of September the rampart and the ditch were all under-
mined, and two new bridges were prepared capable of
admitting five soldiers in front. A general assault was
then ordered to take effect upon the springing of all
122 OUSTAVTJS ABOLPKl B
the mines ; and on hearing of this the inhabitants
began to be terrified. Morally certain now that he
should obtain possession of Riga, he allowed the be-
sieged but a short deliberation. But with true military
generosity he again offered honourable conditions of
surrender to those who had well performed their duty
to their King, although they had carried themselves
towards His Majesty in disrespectful and injurious
terms.
His gene- The instant Gustavus entered the town-gate, he
rous treat- directed his steps to the great church of St. Peter,
ment <>t the L °
citizens. where he kneeled down, and returned his thanks to
God in a short prayer. The people of Riga were loud
in their praises of their conqueror, and represented him
to Radzivil as a Prince of unparalleled clemency and
generosity. But the Pole coldly replied, that "he
was not displeased to hear that the King of Sweden
was a Christian." His Majesty never once upbraided
the inhabitants for the fatigue and mischief that their
obstinate resistance had occasioned him, but told them
" he never desii'ed, nor expected, better duty from them
than they had shown then' former master ; upon which
account he should not only preserve their privileges,
but enlarge them."
Captures Having fully garrisoned Riga, Gustavus invested
DaiKimond and took Danamond, at the head of 14,000 men, and
j.au afterwards made himself master of Mittau, the capital
and residence of the Dukes of Courland ; of which place
he made Wrangel governor, with a garrison of 2000
men. But he assured the reigning Duke of his favour,
and that he would restore the place to him when he had
made conditions with Sigismund ; which engagement
was eventually made good by the King of Sweden. A
truce then ensued, which was to last till the expiration
of the year 1622, in the course of which Gustavus had
the affliction to lose his brother, who died at Narva,
January 26th, in his twenty-first year; — a prince of
acknowledged courage, and remarkable for uncommon
OUSTATUS ADOLPHTJS. 123
sweetness of temper : and he was loved and regretted
extremely by the King, whom he had accompanied in all
his dangers, and who had made him the confidant of all
his designs. The grief for the death of his brother
was the more profound, inasmuch as Gustavus had not
as yet any child by his Queen Eleonora.
In 1623, the truce with Poland having expired, Gus- Renewal of
tavus, deeming it his best pohcy to make, rather than wi^h Po.
to repel, an invasion, embarked his army in a fleet of land,
sixty-six vessels, of which twenty were large ships of
war, and appeared to the astonishment of Sigismund,
who himself witnessed the approach of his adversary
from a watch-tower at Dantzig. The cousins imme-
diately bombarded each other with all their great guns.
This was followed by an interchange of messages and
negotiations ; but the year ended without any affairs
more hostile than had already alarmed the town of Dant-
zig, which forthwith made a profession of neutrality,
and so escaped a siege. The politics of Europe, how-
ever, began to be felt in these ice-bound regions ; and
French and Spanish intrigues bearing upon the great
German contest (which had been now already commenced
some years), began to influence the conflict between
Gustavus and Sigismund. His Catholic Majesty sent
the Count de Solre, a Flemish Grandee and a Knight
of the Golden Fleece, to the Polish King ; while His
Christian Majesty sent one Charrasse, an agent with
full powers, but without credentials, to stir up the two
cousins to fresh war for their pleasure or benefit.
Sigismund frankly told the Spanish Ambassador that
Spain could not render him the slightest service, unless
she sent a fleet into the Baltic ; and Gustavus was too
sharp-sighted not to discern the designs of Cardinal
Richelieu, and cordially agreed with Sigismund not to
be the dupe of this Spanish and Italian interference ;
and they accordingly agreed to a fresh cessation of arms
between Sweden and Poland, to hold till June, 1625.
• • c .li • Oustavus s
When the time had arrived lor the expiration ol tins successful
m
(iVSTVVUS ADOLPHVS.
campaign truce, fresh negotiations had ensued ; and Oxenstiema,
in Poland. wj10 conducted the conference, said that, in expecta-
tion of a treaty being to be adjusted, he had his mas-
ter's commands to prolong the armistice till August
next ensuing, when it was clear that the season for a
campaign would have elapsed. The affair, however,
having at length terminated without any decision,
Gustavus again embarked his army in a fleet of seventy-
six ships, and sailed for Livonia early in the ensuing
year ; and by the beginning of AprU 1626, he had made
himself master of the Castle of Kokerhausen, an im-
portant fortress, near the banks of the Bwina ; and he
then conquered Selburg, Dinaberg, Nidorp, and Pot-
navia, — all well supplied, and garrisoned by Polish sol-
diers. He afterwards encountered in the field the young
Saprieha, at the head of the Polish army, who sought
to begin a battle at the very moment when he ought
to have avoided one, and, rushing into an unequal
action, fell a sacrifice to his vigilant and determined
opponent, and lost most of his baggage, and a consi-
derable portion of his artillery. The King then throw-
ing a bridge over the Dwina, continued his successful
course, taking many important places, some by force
and some by stratagem. Yet all these successes did
not render His Majesty averse to an accommodation ;
and accordingly he despatched Oxenstiema once more
to propose terms of peace to Sigismund.
Total de- At length a considerable battle was fought near
PoUshfthC Walhoff> on the vast Plain of Semigallia (which is a
army under portion of the Duchy of Courland), where the Polish
army was commanded by Leo Saprieha, the father of
the other general, and a prince not deficient in fine
parts, but somewhat too old for the command of an
army, as his son had proved himself too young. The
action was sharp, but was soon brought to a conclusion
in favour of the Swedes. Count Thum commanded their
right, and Gustavus Horn their left ; and on the other
hand the Polish army was composed for the most part
prieha.
GUSTAYUS ADOLPHTTS. 125
of Lithuanians, then esteemed the best soldiers in
Poland. Gustavus, previously to the engagement, is
said to have sent a trumpet to the Polish commander,
with this message, " That as there were two such
things in the world as peace and war, he made him the
compliment of choosing that which he preferred." To
which Saprieha replied, " That he had hut one object of
ambition,— that of making a fair trial with His Ma-
jesty upon equal ground." The Polish armies were
always principally composed of horse, which it was
believed in those days no infantry could withstand.
But Gustavus had, as has been related, occupied him-
self especially with the arming and tactics of his foot
soldiers, and although the bayonet had not yet been
introduced, the pike had been very much improved in
efficacy ; and the columns of infantry were always
marshalled with musketeers and pikemen combined,
which rendered them quite equal to withstand the
shock of cavalry. Accordingly, the issue of the battle
that now ensued was most triumphant. The Poles
were completely overcome, lost all their artillery and
baggage, and a great number of standards and pri-
soners, and left 1600 men dead on the field.
In the midst of this new prosperity Gustavus again Captures
offered terms of peace to Sigismund ; but the Polish JJ^JJ'^J
King remained inflexible, notwithstanding that the 0f Prussia
effects of his Swedish adversary's extraordinary abilities at this
for war had been signally displayed in all the Livonian p
campaigns. The art of investing, and the skill of
besieging, fortified towns, and the successes of more
than one pitched battle, were alone sufficient to have
disheartened any antagonist ; but national misfortunes
had also gathered around Sigismund at this juncture.
Gustavus therefore pursued his career, and, to the
utter astonishment of every one at his temerity, car-
ried his army by sea into the harbour of Pillau, which
town was then garrisoned by the troops of the Elector
of Brandenburg, as Duke of Prussia. It may be use-
12G ausTAvus adolpttus.
ful to relate that at this time Prussia was divided into
two parts, one of which belonged to the King of
Poland, and one to the Elector of Brandenburg, the
former possessing Dantzig and all that lies to the east
of the Vistula, the latter the country upon the Baltic
on the north, and lying along the frontier of Livonia,
Lithuania, and Courland. Pillau was a place of some
importance on the Baltic, about twenty miles distant
from Koenigsburg ; and the Governor at once yielded
the place on the King's first summons. Gustavus
brought his flotilla of boats into the Frisch, and, dis-
embarking his troops on its shores, rested there some
time, dealing with the whole country as if it were his
own. He took Brauensbcrg and Frawnberg, and trans-
ferred the collegiate and town fibraries to that of his
Swedish University at Upsal. He afterwards took
Bavensberg, and sat down to besiege Elbingen, a strong
and important city, whose governor yielded it upon
favourable terms, and put His Majesty into possession
of money, refreshment, and a vast quantity of military
stores, very convenient for his necessities. He also
successfully engaged several Polish Generals at the
head of more than 16,000 soldiers in several affairs of
moment. Marienberg, which had been the seat of the
Knights of the Teutonic Order, to whom Prussia for-
merly belonged, was thought not to be sufficiently
garrisoned ; and it was said that one Penclau, the go-
vernor, was not above listening to terms of compromise.
The King accordingly invited him to supper, when the
custodian frankly surrendered both town and castle
during the repast, and gave up his provincial chest as
surety for the due performance of his promise. In
short, the King of Sweden made himself master of the
whole of Polish Prussia, and set his eye upon the pos-
session of Dantzig, to which he at length laid siege.
Siege of Circumstances were in some sort more favourable to
Dantzig. him than to Sigismund ; for the King of Poland was
fully occupied, and necessarily absent from his army.
GTTSTAYtrS ADOLPHUS. 127
The Cossacks had invaded the Chersonesus ; and the
Grand Signior had recalled all his Turks and Tartars
from the service of the Polish King ; moreover, violent
personal animosities had broken out at this moment
between Sigismund and his generals, as well as be-
tween the generals themselves. But, on the other
hand, it must not be overlooked that Gustavus was an
opponent of no ordinary magnitude. His army was
organized in a manner superior to what had heretofore
been witnessed in war. He was not only a first-rate
general in the field, but he was an administrator of
wonderful acquirements. The commissariat, the guns,
the siege equipment, and the discipline and morale of
his army, were perfect. He had vigilance to provide,
activity to examine, and resolution to execute, what-
ever appeared to come within the range of forethought.
His troops were well clothed, well paid, and well fed,
and, it is almost unnecessary to subjoin, admirably
led into action. He allowed of no plunder, cruelty,
debauchery, nor immorality, — all which were forbidden
no less by his example than by his command ; for he
made his officers and soldiers as like himself as cir-
cumstances would admit.
While Gustavus was before Dantzig, the towns- The siege
people sent him deputies, who so far cajoled the King °aise^w
that he carried on the siege feebly, until the King of
Poland himself arrived at Graudentz at the head of
30,000 men. Sigismund instantly laid siege to Mew, a
small town at the confluence of the Versa and Vistula,
where he intrenched himself within works of circum-
vallation. Gustavus was unwilling to raise the siege
of Dantzig, and having made a careful reconnoisance
of the Polish works, he attempted to storm them, but
without success, after a struggle that lasted two entire
days. The Poles, however, were sufficiently alarmed
to break up from before Mew, and to permit the King
to enter that place, where he rewarded the garrison for
then- resolution and bravery. He desired his chaplain to
128 GUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS.
perform a service in the nature of a "TeDeum" before
the garrison, and at the end Gustavus addressed to them
this pious and appropriate remark : " That he never
doubted the success of a battle when Moses held up his
hands on the mount." The campaign concluded with-
out any very denned success on either side ; and soon
after his return to Stockholm the Queen presented
Gustavus with a daughter (afterwards Queen Christine),
on whom he settled the succession, and whom he de-
clared heiress to the Swedish throne.
Gustavus Early in the year 1627, Gustavus was exposed to
enber an" one °^ ^n0 ^ew reverses ne experienced in any of his
campaigns. A body of 8000 men under two leaders of
mark — Colonels Strief and Teuffel — were surprised by
the Polish General, Conospoliski, and taken prisoners.
It was the month of May, however, before he carried
his fleet to Prussia, and he opened a new campaign
at the head of a brave and disciplined army with the
siege of Marienberg, which he soon reduced, though it
was well supplied with provisions and military stores,
and doubly garrisoned. He heard, however, that
Adolphus, Duke of Holstein, was marching with a
body of Imperial troops to the assistance of Sigismund ;
and he therefore resolved to anticipate this reinforce-
ment by attacking the Polish army at Dirschau. Here
he at once fell upon the Polish infantry with the
Swedish cavalry so effectually, that they would have
been hopelessly broken, but for the opportune arrival
of some Polish horse ; and unfortunately in the melee
the King was struck by a falcon-shot in his elbow.
This untoward event, at the very commencement of a
campaign, sensibly affected Oxenstierna and the chief
officers of his army, who thought the King exposed
himself too much. When, however, the surgeon was
puzzling himself to extract the ball, His Majesty be-
sought him to " let the ball remain in his body as an
illustrious monument that he had not passed his youth
in idleness and inactivity." Gustavus, however, was
GUSTATUS ADOLPHUS. 129
obliged to give up his command, and return to Stock-
holm to recover from the effects of the wound.
Gustavus regarded the non-acquisition of Dantzig as Gustavns'
such a thorn in his side, that he was eager to renew the "nsuccess"
' ° nil attempt
war m the spring of 1628, and re-embarked his army against
in a fleet of thirty-three sail. In approaching the port Dantzig.
near the fort of Weissalmond he lighted upon seven reinforce-
Dantzig ships, some of which he captured, dispersing ments from
the rest ; and he then landed his men, and ordered one
of the outworks of the fortified city to be stormed ; but
his troops were repulsed with loss, several officers
being taken prisoners, and Count Thurn, the general
in command, wounded. Stung to the quick by this
disgrace, Gustavus placed himself at the head of 7000
men, and by activity, dexterity, and stratagem, made
himself master of a small island, from which he thought
he could advance the siege. It is related that in this
affair he first made use of leather artillery, for which
the King had always an uncommon fondness, as it was
partially an invention of his own, and was so easy of
carriage. Conospoliski was soon in the field against
him ; and Gustavus marched with 24,000 infantry and
2000 horse, of which 9000 were English or Scotch
soldiers, who had been sent to him by Buckingham,
who was now Prime Minister to Charles I. of England.
To this army it is related there was attached a corps
of 3000 archers. It is believed that these soldiers
were some irregular barbarians, who had come under
the power of the Swedes ; and Prince Eugene, in after
times, conceived the idea of employing troops of this
armament to be so judicious, that he introduced into his
army some Hungarians and Croatians, who were armed
with some species of bows and arrows. The English
have employed them in the wars of India ; but on no
occasion that I know of have they aided in securing
the palm of victory. Indeed, it is much doubted whether
irregulars of this description do materially increase the
strength of modern armies, since they are difficult to
K
130
OtTSTAYl's MM.l.l'IirS.
Gustavus
defends
Stralsund
against
Walleii-
stein.
maintain in discipline, and are more likely to do mis-
i hiil' than any positive good. At the same time, there
are moments in war when an unexpected weapon pro-
duces considerable effect. The Swedes and Poles again
came to a pitched battle, which cannot be said to have
ended in a victory, although the latter lost 3000 men,
four field-pieces, and fourteen colours ; and their general
was grievously wounded in the encounter. About this
time likewise Wallenstein sent an Imperial fleet against
the King to assist Dantzig, consisting of eleven vessels
under Admiral Appehnan, who, though killed in the
encounter, attacked the Swedish fleet, and took four
ships, driving the remainder into the port of Pillau.
The Swedish Admiral Sternskield blew up his ship and
all his crew to prevent capture. The King was sensibly
affected by this disgrace ; but he sent for another fleet
of twelve ships, which completely shut up the com-
merce of Dantzig.
The Emperor of Germany about this time sent
Schwarzenberg to the Hansetowns, to demand from
them such shipping as might be needful to contend
against Gustavus, and to aid the attempt now making
by his army under AVallenstein to obtain possession of
Stralsund. Gustavus accordingly now took up the cause
of the Stralsunders, and sent a reinforcement of troops to
their Danish garrison, who, finding the defence of that
place beyond their strength, cast the burden of it,
with all its danger and glory, upon their then Swedish
friends and allies. Wallenstein had sworn " that, though
Stralsund hung in the air from heaven by a chain of
adamant, he would take it." It was not an easy task,
however, as he soon experienced ; for no place is better
situated for defence by nature. It parts the sea in a sort
of elliptical figure, having the two extremities joined to
the mainland by a narrow isthmus. Behind it lies the
lake of Franken, to which there is only access by a
single causeway. And the Swedish fleet was much
more able to furnish a garrison with supplies from the
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 131
seaward, than the Imperial navy was to prevent it from
doing so. Gustavus sent in Sir Alexander Leslie, with
a chosen hody of Scotch and English troops, to defend
the town ; and the Danish Governor, Hoik, for some
time acted under him. This episode of the defence of
Stralsund ultimately brought the Swedes into the great
German contest ; for Wallenstein, after a siege of three
months, found he could make no impression upon the
gallant Leslie and his garrison, and saw that it was
next to impossible to get possession of a place well
defended, and which could at all times receive fresh
supplies from the sea.
Gustavus at this time received an insult, which some Conference
attribute to the Emperor himself, and some to the in- ^ ^ubeek :
„ _^ ln \ , uustavus
rluence 01 Wallenstein, who dreaded the King s inter- excluded
ference between him and the King of Denmark. His from it-
Swedish Majesty, with studied contempt, was excluded
from the discussions of a Congress, or Conference, that
assembled at Liibeck in 1629, at which plenipoten-
tiaries attended from Ferdinand and Christian ; as their
deliberations intimately concerned Gustavus, both as
regarded Stralsund and Mecklenburg, he despatched
two Swedish deputies to attend it ; but these were for-
bidden to enter Germany, or to approach Liibeck,
under pain of death. Astonished at this unexpected
rebuff, they referred the matter to King Christian, who
informed them " that if the Northern plenipotentiaries
had any thing to propose that concerned public policy
or utility, they should submit their proposals to the
Austrian ministry at Vienna." Such an affront struck
deeply into the royal heart of Gustavus, and he resolved
to resent the indignity the first opportunity ; nor did
he hesitate to admit that it was one of the motives
that afterwards led him into the German battle-field.
Gustavus, in the commencement of the year 1629, Narrow
introduced into the town of Stralsund reinforcements, ^scaPe or
wustavus
and a good supply of ammunition ; and Wallenstein, at Stral-
who had now got the Saxon contingent attached to suml-
K 2
132 (UISTAVrS AUOLPUl S.
his army, determined to make it available for his designs.
He accordingly called to him its commander, and said
to him, with characteristic insolence, " Arnheim, take
10,000 men, and drive Gustavus out of Poland ; and in
case you should not find yourself equal to the task, let
him know that Wallenstein will come and effect it him-
self." Arnheim forthwith carried his troops to Gran-
denz ; and came up in twelve days to the banks of the
Vistula, over which Conospoliski threw a bridge of
boats near Marienverder, in order to facilitate the junc-
tion of the two armies. Gustavus, either to impede
this junction, or through eagerness to encounter the
confederates, came up to within a few miles of Thorn,
at the head of a part of his army. There was a difficult
passage, situated in the midst of a wood, of which both
armies endeavoured to get possession, and a sharp
strife for it ensued. Otho Lewis, the Rhinegrave, who
commanded for Gustavus, behaved so rashly, that he
lost some 200 killed, and many colours and prisoners
were taken before the King could come up with him.
But though Gustavus soon saw that with such unequal
forces as he was leading against hardened and ex-
perienced troops he could have little success, yet he
would not allow a detachment of his army to be sacri-
ficed without the endeavoiu- to bring them off Avith
credit. After various skirmishes and manoeuvres on
the loose sand-hills of the district, Gustavus contrived
to obtain possession of a hill on which 8000 or 10,000
men, that he had with him, could make head against
the larger forces opposed to him, whom he felt sure could
not find sufficient room to act. However, the Im-
perialists, by their superior fire, were successful, and
got possession of the top of the hill. Regiment now
engaged regiment, and Gustavus himself entered into
the personal struggle, when, seeing Baron Sirot, a
Frenchman, endeavouring to carry off the colours of
his own body-guard, the King fired a carbine at him,
which lodged a ball in his right arm ; but he returned
CHJSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 133
the fire at the King, and the ball passing near His
Majesty's head, his hat fell to the ground, and this
being picked up was sent as a trophy to the Emperor
Ferdinand, who despatched the impious and heretical
head-gear as an offering to the shrine of our Lady at
Loretto. Although Gustavus was long ignorant of
this destination of his missing beaver, he very much
disliked the loss of it. The King the same day received
five musket balls in his armour, and would have been
taken prisoner but for one Soop, a captain of horse,
who shot the Polish horseman who had already a pistol
at the King's ear, because he refused to ask quarter.
Conospoliski was also pierced with several balls, and
was actually once a prisoner, but was also rescued. The
Ehinegrave's brother John, as also Herman Wrangel,
were both killed on the side of the Swedes ; but on the
other hand the regiment of Bindhauf, esteemed the very
finest in the Imperial service, was entirely ruined in this
battle ; and some twenty German ensigns remained as
trophies in the hands of the Swedes. The next day
Gustavus received a reinforcement of 3000 men, who
came up to him on the field ; and this enabled him to
retreat, without the least molestation from the enemy.
He fell back to his old camp at Marienverder ; and
the Confederates took up a secure and advantageous
position on the field of battle.
Soon afterwards Sigismund arrived in the confede- Judiciously
rate camp, and, having summoned a council of war, felines *
i j 1 j? -n n i -.n battle with
resolved to follow Grustavus, and force his intrench- Sigismund.
ments. But the King was not a man to sleep in any
position, and in the space of eight days made his camp
so difficult to be approached, that His Polish Ma-
jesty, although he made the attempt, was after many
unsuccessful assaults repulsed with considerable loss.
The united generals spared no pains to tempt the
Swedish King to try the fortune of battle ; but that
sagacious Prince understood his profession too well, and
had too just a notion of the disparity of his forces, to
L3 t til ST.W IS A1KH I'lll 8.
uttcnij)t doing any thing of the kind for the remainder
of the campaign.
A treaty Cardinal Richelieu had long desired to enlist the
of peace power of the King of Sweden on the side of the Pro-
testant Union, now struggling hard against the House
of Austria in the German contest ; and Baron de
Charnace was despatched to him as French Ambas-
sador, who at this time arrived in the hostile camp
of the contending Kings, with letters to each of them,
to endeavour to prevail upon them to send their re-
spective deputies to a conference that should effect a
peace. For this purpose tents were erected between
the camps, at ahout 500 paces from each army. In a
few days the treaty was signed, and it was stipulated
that it should be in force for six years. The first con-
sequence of the truce was the return of Arnheim and
his Saxons into Germany, who was employed by the
French Ambassador to carry back to the Elector, his
master, some arguments to induce that Sovereign also
to desert the side of the Emperor, and to join the
Protestant Union. De Charnace again attended the
Swedish King when he returned back to Stockholm in
1630, and with much tact and caution suggested a
scheme that should induce Gustavus to enter Germany
at the head of his army. But this was done in such
high terms, and with such an air of indifference, that
the King treated the conditions on which it was asked
with much disdain. He did not choose to enlist him-
self as a mercenary general in the German war, upon
a stipend to be paid him by France ; nor was it pleas-
ing to him to be bound for a limited number of years by
an engagement that might preclude him from treating
with the Emperor, should conditions be offered to him.
satisfactory to his personal honour, and the interests
of tho Protestant cause. For these reasons these nego-
tiations did not at that time proceed ; and De Charnace
set off once more on his return home. But on his
arrival at Copenhagen lie received orders from Richelieu
GUSTAYUS ADOLPHUS. 135
to return to Stockholm, with fresh instructions ; and
the King, in consequence of these amended offers, sent
his secretary to Paris, to insinuate that Gustavus had
no disinclination to an engagement, if the proposals
were reasonable, and not inconsistent with his welfare
and dignity '.
The matter being thus dismissed for a season, Gustavus
Gustavus referred the whole matter of peace or war to se , Pro"
1 , posals to
the States of his kingdom then assembled in Senate, Wallen-
who made it an earnest request to His Majesty, not to ^.^n and
consent to any peace " except he had his helmet on ;"
and on no account to relinquish present or future acqui-
sitions for Sweden, but to maintain the sovereignty of
the Baltic and the possession of Stralsund at any rate,
together with the time preservation of the rights and
dignity of the Protestant religion. In consequence of
this, Gustavus despatched one Nicholas Bielke to Stral-
sund, with letters from the King to the Imperial
Generals — Wallenstein and Tilly. The former had not
the politeness to return His Majesty an answer ; but
the latter replied with great respect in vindication both
of himself and of his party : Gustavus, however, was
contented to hold his ground against both Imperial
Generals by maintaining himself master of Stralsund ;
which was a port he could hold with his fleet, and
which might be a convenient base from whence to
advance or to retreat, should he eventually agree to
disembark with an army in Germany.
After the unsuccessful attempt that the King of Gustavus
Denmark had made to oppose the Emperor and the regarded as
Catholic League, by leading the forces of the Protestant champion
Union, Gustavus Adolphus was the only Prince in Europe of tne ^T0'
cause.
1 Of the extreme flippancy of this Baron de Charnace it is re-
corded, that when discussing with the Stadtholder of Holland some
enterprise in which the Dutch were excused for having failed,
owing to the wind and tide, he replied, " Your Highness will
be pleased to remember that there is no such wind or tide in
France."
136 GUSTAVUS ADOLP1IU3.
from whom the oppressed Germans could look for protec-
tion, and liberty of conscience and of action. The cause
of freedom, in its widest acceptation, had languished and
waned ever since Christian's failure before the triumphs
of the Emperor Ferdinand and the lloman Church. The
only man who could aid the suffering cause was the
King of Sweden, for he alone was personally qualified
to conduct the enterprise, and had political motives to
recommend, and personal wrongs to justify it. He
had, before the war in Lower Saxony commenced,
offered his services and his army for the defence of
Protestantism ; but the King of Denmark, to the great
detriment of the cause, had been preferred before him ;
and that Prince's offer to lead their armies had been
accepted in his despite; so that as a man he could not
have been insensible of such a slight, but he did not
resent it. Since that time, however, both the Em-
peror and Wallenstein had sanctioned hostile measures
against himself, which were equally offensive to him as
a General and as a King. The Imperial troops had
been despatched to the assistance of the Polish King,
Sigismund, against his nation ; and when Gustavus had
remonstrated with the Imperial General respecting the
acts of hostility against his naval and military forces,
he was answered, " The Emperor has more soldiers
than he wants for himself; he must help his friends."
The Swedish Ambassadors had been insolently com-
manded by Wallenstein to withdraw from the late
conference at Liibeck upon strictly Scandinavian
affairs. And soon after, when, unawed by this com-
mand, they were courageous enough to remain to
represent their royal master's interests and the con-
cerns of Sweden, the General, contrary to every law of
nations, had threatened them with personal violence.
Ferdinand had also insulted the Swedish flag, had in-
tercepted the King's despatches in Transylvania, and
had thrown even' obstacle in his power in the wajr of a
peace between Poland and Sweden. Nay, the Emperor
GUSTAVTJS ADOLPHUS. ] 37
had gone so far as to deny the right of Gustavus to
the throne of Sweden, and had supported the pretensions
of Sigismund against him. So many personal motives,
supported hy important considerations both of State
policy and sectarian feeling, had their full weight with
a Prince like Gustavus, who was ambitious of being
deemed the protector of the oppressed, and the defender
of the faith, and one who passionately loved war as his
peculiar element. Pressing invitations from all sides
were now added to his own personal motives for em-
barking in the German war 2.
England, Holland, and France, alike interested them- Is encou-
selves in the matter, and without even consulting to- Tv^\ •[
gether expressed their convictions that His Swedish Holland,
Majesty alone could perform the task of raising the *ini* F£au£ e
Protestants of Germany from their present abasement. in the Ger-
It is affirmed that the understanding with France was man war-
at the first verbal only, and not reduced to the form of
a treaty, but that it stipulated that for six years the
King would contribute annually for the purpose of
maintaining war in the German Empire a sum variously
stated at from £66,000 to £82,000. The published cor-
respondence of Sir Thomas Roe and Sir Dudley Carlton
speaks hopefully of aid of some kind being Hkewise
promised by England and Holland. Gustavus sent
Sadler and the Chevalier Rache to the Helvetic Leagues,
and to the body of the German League in general, to
learn what assistance he might expect from them. But
such a dread of the House of Austria possessed these
last-named parties, that he received little encourage-
ment from them.
The English and Scotch people had every desire to Sir T. Roe's
promote the undertakinar of Gustavus ; but their views drplo-
r ° ' maey.
were not at all responded to by Charles I. He had Charles I.
inherited from his father a desire to maintain peace t^nds .
at all hazards, excepting when actuated by a dynastic 0f Hamil-
ton to aid
2 Schiller. Gustavus.
138 GH STATUS Al)OI.l>lHs.
ambition tu help the Elector Palatine out of his family
troubles. At one and the same moment Sir Robert
Anstruther was despatched to Ratisbon to negotiate
the restitution of the Palatinate from the Diet; and
Sir Henry Vane was deputed Ambassador to the
King of Sweden. But Sir Thomas Hoe, Avho had pre-
ceded Sir Henry at Stockhohn, was a man of much
higher parts and spirit, and who, greatly rejoicing
at the Swedish expedition into Germany, had upon
all occasions pressed upon his Court that Gustavus
was an intrepid and judicious commander, who sus-
tained in his own person all the offices of soldier and
statesman. He had represented the absolute neces-
sity of supplying the King with such pecuniary assist-
ance as mio-ht determine him to undertake the in-
vasion. And indeed Sir Thomas Roe's arguments
for the cause were mainly instrumental in bringing
Gustavus into Germany ; for at length His Britannic
Majesty gave the Marquis of Hamilton private in-
structions to levy a body of troops, and to conduct
them into Germany, as an instalment of the assistance
he would render ; so that Gustavus took the proposal
in good part, and immediately wrote back his own
limitations and conditions of acceptance, which were,
— that he reserved to himself the supreme power of
command, but that the English army should act toge-
ther under the Marquis of Hamilton. The King of
England had indeed promised to provide the Marquis
with warlike stores ; but Hamilton himself had gene-
rously proposed to raise 6000 men at his own expense ;
and now, with the concurrence of the King, accepted
all the conditions proposed, and engaged to land his
troops to join the army of Sweden by June, 1G31.
Great diligence was therefore employed to raise an
army. Donald Lord Reay (whose family name was
Mackay), and David Ramsay, both of whom were
already serving in the Swedish army, were sent over
by Gustavus to facilitate and encourage the raising
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 139
of recruits ; and their drums soon drew together a
considerable body of troops, and many experienced
officers were obtained, who had served in the wars
of the Protestants both in Holland and the Low
Countries. The cause itself was altogether more
agreeable to the people of England and Scotland, than
to the King, who continued cold in the cause, and
could never be brought into an explicit treaty, but
only to vague promises.
On the 16th of July , the Marquis of Hamilton, after
reviewing his troops at Yarmouth, embarked them from
thence for the Baltic, in a fleet of forty ships. He
had been appointed to land at Bremen, where Gus-
tavus sent Leslie, Governor of Stralsund, afterwards
Earl of Leven, to meet him with supplies of bread and
beer, and to negotiate with the Archbishop concerning
the means of supplying the English army with pro-
visions. Hamilton was piqued, however, at not find-
ing the 4000 Swedes who had been promised by the
King as an escort to direct him to the King's army,
and thought proper, on his own impulse, not to land
his troops, but to proceed onwards by water; which
he did as far as the Isle of Usedom. Leslie was not a Eeception
little astonished to see the King's plan disregarded, J^J^^
and hastened back by land to report this to His rnilton by
Majesty, and ask for further orders. Gustavus, it is Gustavus.
said, disliked the Marquis from this time forward for
his want of obedience, and confidence in him : but
changing on the instant the plans that he had formed
for the English contingent, he now ordered tbem to
serve on the banks of the Oder, instead of the Weser ;
and the Marquis landed 6000 English and Scotch, all
in good health and spirits, upon the shore of the Baltic,
and was ordered to report to Baner. This force was
divided into four regiments of ten companies each,
with 150 men in a company. Hamilton himself took
the field with the air of a prince ; his table, his
equipage, and his liveries, were magnificent. He had
140
GUSTAVUS ADOLPnre.
forty gentlemen's sons by way of pages and volun-
teers. The King received him in his camp at Wer-
ben in a manner the most affectionate and polite that
can he conceived, making him a thousand apologies
for the scantiness and bareness of the quarters allotted
to his troops. In a long conference in private he
explained all the dispositions of his intended ad-
vance. The Marquis hastened to take the command
of his countrymen, but never could obtain the favour
of being declared general of the little army — for he
was obliged to serve under a Swedish general when-
ever a junction was effected between him and any
Swedish divisions. It must be confessed that this
body of Britons proved but of little service in the
sequel of the war. They suffered greatly from eating
the German bread, and by indulging an immoderate
appetite for new honey, of which they found great
abundance in their quarters; and the German beer
Hamilton's did not agree with their constitutions. By these
natecon-" means tne diminutive army was reduced to little more
duct. than two regiments in a very short time. The Kino-
ordered the deficiency to be supplied with German
recruits, for the expense of which he promised to
become responsible. But the bold Britons revolted at
being mixed with other troops, and soon became very
unmanageable : indeed, when they had obtained good
quarters, and happened not to have a mind to leave them,
they continued in them, in defiance of His Majesty's
orders. The Swedish commanders accordingly received
orders, in case of their being refractory, to enforce
obedience. At length the Marquis and General Baner,
the Swedish second in command, came to an open rup-
ture, and, in the teeth of Hamilton's resentment, the
Swede, who was as well born as Hamilton, and would
not bate the Marquis one jot in the article of pride,
produced the King's letter from his pocket to assert
his authority. Though Hamilton possessed all the
gallantry, magnificence, and personal array that ought
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHTJS. 141
to adorn the man of quality, yet he was but in the
twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth year of his age, and
Baner had already earned the reputation of being one
of the ablest generals then in Europe. The British
nobleman carried his remonstrances to the King, who
told him that submission to superior authority was
highly expedient to the public service, and he wrote
to King Charles to require that the duty of subordi-
nation should be recommended to the British General,
and that the pay of the troops might be transmitted to
Gustavus himself, and not any longer to the Marquis
of Hamilton. Thus matters stood when Henry Vane
arrived in his ambassadorial capacity. With his well-
known arrogance he proposed that Hamilton should
have a separate command and a separate army, which
should be uniformly levied and supported with English
money for the recovery of the Palatinate. Gustavus
received this proposition in a higher tone than was his
custom : he declined giving the Marquis a commission
to levy a new army ; and his Chancellor, Oxenstierna,
told the British General rather roughly, that he had
received money for the troops from Charles his master,
and that he must not therefore pretend that he main-
tained them from his private fortune. In the mean
time the forces dwindled so much as only to consist of
one English regiment commanded by Bellasis, and one
Scottish regiment by Hamilton ; and the Marquis of
Hamilton found himself neither a general nor a colonel,
and was in the end contented to follow Gustavus as a
simple volunteer. King Charles, however, addressed a Letter
letter of expostulation to the Chancellor, which was not ^om
very intelligible excepting in its postscript, in which he to Gusta-'
says, " I hope shortly you will be in a possibility to yua-
perform your promise concerning pictures and statues,
therefore now in earnest do not forget it3."
The great prospect which now opens in the career of Gustavus
invades
3 Harte.
142 GUSTAVUS AJX3LPHUS.
Germany. Gustavus Adolphus is the important episode of his in-
His pros- vasion 0f Germany. The King resolved to cross the
pects, and J °
resolute Baltic and attack the Emperor. So dangerous a con-
spirit. flict Would have dismayed any other than Gustavus
Adolphus. He saw all the obstacles and dangers that
opposed his undertaking, hut he also justly calculated
the means by which he hoped to succeed in it. " I
know," he said, " the perils, the fatigues, the difficulties
of the undertaking: yet, neither the wealth of the
House of Austria dismays me, nor her veteran forces :
I hold my retreat secure under the worst alternative.
And if it is the will of the Supreme Being that Gus-
tavus should die in the defence of the faith, he pays the
tribute with thankful acquiescence ; for it is a King's
duty and his religion to obey the great Sovereign of
Kings without a murmur." His army, though not
numerous, was peculiarly well organized and disciplined,
inured to hardships in many campaigns under a most
inhospitable climate, and trained to victory. Sweden,
though poor in men and money, was devoted to her mo-
narch with an enthusiasm rarely shown by any people.
The fame of her Sovereign exalted the sense of their im-
portance in the mind of the nation ; so that the peasant
as readily contributed his pittance as the soldier did his
blood to his country's aggrandizement. The single
character of their King had imparted to Sweden a lofty
energy, which long survived its originator. The necessity
of the war was acknowledged by all ; but the best mode
of employing the strength of the State was a matter of
much question. Even to the daring Chancellor Oxen-
stierna an offensive war in a foreign country appeared
too rash a proceeding : the resources in the power of
his master appeared to him too slender to compete
with a mighty potentate, who held all Germany at his
command. But the timid scruples of the minister
were overruled by the hero's commanding prudence.
" If we await our enemy in Sweden, all might be lost
by a defeat. By a fortunate commencement of a war
OV STATUS ADOLPHTJS. 143
in Germany every thing is to be gained. To begin
depends on the retention of Stralsund ; so long as that
port remains in our hands, we shall both command the
Baltic, and secure a continual communication with
Sweden, and a certain retreat at any time out of
Germany. But to protect this port we must advance
at once into Pomerania. We must carry the war
abroad. Sweden must not be doomed to behold a
hostile banner upon her soil. It will be time enough
to follow your plan when we are vanquished."
It was well known that the name of the Emperor State of
Ferdinand was as much hated as feared in Germanv, a,Sai^s °!1.
. J ' the Conti-
and that the Protestant Princes only awaited the nent at
arrival of a deliverer to throw off his intolerable yoke. this time-
Even the Eoman Catholic States dreaded the conse-
quences of his overwhelming power. The strength of
Austria had at this moment been lessened by ill-timed
detachments to Italy and the Netherlands ; Spain was
crippled by her late reverses and losses, and was still
engaged in a serious war in the Netherlands ; so that
she could afford the Empire no support. Gustavus
assured himself in a personal interview with King
Christian that he might rely upon the friendship of
Denmark. Poland was to be held in check from the
side of Germany, and the Swedish frontier on the side
of Muscovy was sufficiently well guarded. The King
had the promise of ample contributions of money from
France, and the hope of some subsidies from England
still remained to him. Hamburg and Liibeck engaged
to advance him supplies in exchange for Swedish
ores. The flourishing Hansetowns had hitherto escaped
the impoverishment of the rest of Germany, and were
prepared to stand by the Protestant cause to avert
their ruin.
Having well considered the external defence of the Gustavus
kingdom, Gustavus provided for its internal adminis- J?reP,ar(^
r. , . . , iortheGer-
tration during his absence at the war with equal care, man cam-
He set his house in order like a man about to quit. Pai&n \}ns
1 farewell ad-
dress.
1 M GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.
When all his measures were arranged, and all was
ready for his departure, the King appeared in the Diet
at Stockholm on the 20th of May, accompanied by his
Queen, and his child, then only four years of age.
Taking his daughter in his arms, he presented her to
the States as their future Sovereign, and exacted from
them a renewal of the oath of allegiance to her, in case
he should never more return to his kingdom. He then
read to them the ordinances he had prepared for the
government of the kingdom during his absence, or
during the minority of his daughter. Having done all
the actual business of his interview with the States, it
was some time before he could attain sufficient com-
posure to deliver to them his farewell address, to this
effect : —
" Not lightly or wantonly am I about to involve
myself and you in this new and dangerous war : God is
my witness that I do not fight to gratify my own am-
bition. But the Emperor has wronged me most shame-
fully in the person of my ambassador ; he has supported
my enemies, persecuted my friends and brethren,
trampled my religion in the dust, and even stretched
his revengeful arm against my crown. The oppressed
States of Germany call loudly for my aid, which by
God's help we will give them. I am fully sensible of
the dangers to which my life will be exposed. I have
never yet shrunk from them, nor is it likely that I
shall escape them all. Hitherto Providence has won-
derfully protected me. But if He will that I shall at
last fall in the defence of my country, I commend you
to the protection of Heaven. Be just, be conscientious,
act uprightly, and we shall meet again in eternity.
######
For the prosperity of all my subjects, absent and
present, I offer my warmest prayers to Heaven. I bid
you all a sincere — it may be an eternal — farewell \"
* Schiller.
GUSTATTJS ADOLPHTJS. 145
There was yet the most trying pang of all — the Takes leave
parting from, his beloved wife and Queen, Eleonora. q ® v-
He was so much affected, that at the end of his oration sits his
his utterance failed him, and he could only snatch a "eet*
hasty embrace, and ejaculate, " God bless you." Then,
mounting his horse, he galloped to Elfsknaben, where
his fleet lay at anchor. This consisted of 130 ships of
different sizes, which were divided into five several
squadrons, conducted by as many land or sea superior
officers. Admiral Gildenheim commanded on the right ;
General Baner on the left, and the King's flag royal,
as Admiral supreme, flew in the centre. Among the
superior officers who commanded under them, were
Gustavus Horn, the Rhinegrave Otto Lewis, Count
Thurn, Baner, Torstenson, Ottenberg, Bauditzen,
Teufel, Tod, Falkenberg, Kniphausen, &c.
Detained by contrary winds, it was June before the Sails for
fleet put to sea, and it was five weeks before thev «er T1S1 ,
r . . •7oi Usedoiu.
reached Pennemund harbour, in the island of Usedom.
Either the King's foresight, or Leslie's zeal, so brought
the thing about, that as he neared the shore he saw
the whole country in a flame, and his Scotch friend, the
Governor of Stralsund, with infantry and cavalry wel-
comed His Majesty. As Gustavus Adolphus sprang
to shore on the 24th of June, 1630, the first of the
expedition, the boats, each containing 200 men, followed
close upon him, and the King, taking a pickaxe in
his hands, immediately set to work with them to open
a trench himself, as an earnest of his resolution to work
in his own person, and before break of day he intrenched
eleven regiments near the village of Pennemund. The
day was noted as a propitious one, for it was the
anniversary of that on which, just a century before,
the "Confession of Augsburg" had been presented to
Charles V. After having given all his orders to his
Generals, the King retired a few paces from them, and,
falling down upon his knees, offered up a prayer to the
Almighty. Some of his officers appeared to sneer at
140 GUSTATTTS ADOLPHTJS.
this act of opon and becoming piety, when he tamed
and said to them, " A good Christian will never make a
had soldier. The man that has finished his pray is
has at least completed one-half of his daily work6."
Prepares to The total amount of men that comprised the Swedish
operate army which landed in the Isle of Usedom did not
rjfjjjlf exceed 13,800; hut the troops that were already in
Germany, as constituting the garrison of Stralsund,
were G000 or 7000 more. These last were for the
most part English and Scotch adventurers under Leslie,
who held Usedom and Stralsund together with the island
of Rugen ; and Gustavus now selected this large and
fruitful district for his magazines and hase of operations.
The two islands lay contiguous, and it was thought
that the position could not have heen made secure as an
asylum in case of a reverse without the entire posses-
sion of hoth with Stralsund. Conceiving it now right
and convenient to rest his troops after their tedious
voyage, he allowed them two days to refresh them-
selves, during which he landed from the ships his
horses and artillery, together with his supplies, pro-
visions, and military utensils, with powder and shot ;
and he then ordered his fleet to return to Sweden, to
he at the orders of Oxenstiema, who remained there in
command of 10,000 men, and a considerable hody of
militia, ready as a reserve to resist any invasion that
might he made from the side of his enemies, or from
time to time to reinforce his army in Germany, which
he now led holdly forward against Tilly, the Imperial
General ; having previously issued a proclamation to
the inhabitants of the invaded districts, assuring them
that they might rely upon his most perfect pro-
tection.
< 'apture of There were few Imperialist troops to be met with on
Wolgast.
s It is said that in a country-seat in Sweden that belonged
formerly to the family of De la Gardie may be still seen a picture
in which this story is set forth, with the heads of all the generals
standing round the King, all supposed to he painted from life.
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 147
the Baltic shores, and these retired before the King,
showing no inclination whatever to encounter him.
The Duke of Friedland, who as Duke of Mecklenburg
might have been supposed most interested on his own
account at the danger of having so redoubtable an
adversary as the King of Sweden, was at this time at a
considerable distance, looking after the important affairs
of his own interests in Bohemia ; and Tilly was in no
disposition to enter the military walk appertaining to
his rival, whom he feared on account of his ambition,
and disliked from his insolent and overbearing temper,
and was therefore contented to remain at the moment
occupied in Franconia, and about the borders of Lower
Saxony, as distant as possible from the frontiers of
Wallenstein's Duchy. It is proper to give the credit
due to the sagacity and courage of Gustavus in select-
ing the place of his landing in Germany, where the coast
was clear, excepting the territory of the weak Duke of
Pomerania, who was a Sovereign, but a mere shadow
of power ; and that of the Elector of Brandenburg, a
not very powerful Prince, who had but a few soldiers,
undisciplined and ill-paid. These petty Sovereigns were,
however, held under surveillance by their Suzerain, with
about 16,000 insolent and unmerciful Imperialists, who
made the chain almost intolerable under the command
of Torquato di Conti, who, on account of his seve-
rities and exactions, was generally called " the Devil."
Gustavus Adolphus, therefore, taking advantage of
Wallenstein's and Tilly's absence, set his army in
motion and crossed the little estuary of the Pene, that
divides Usedom from the continent, marching direct
to the town of Wolgast, where some 200 Croatians
first came across his path ; these were charged and cut
to pieces ; and the King made himself master, sword
in hand, of a small fort at the water's edge, the com-
mand of which he confided to Baner, and pushed forward
until he encountered three German regiments under
Torquato himself. These however fell back before the
l 2
148 OTTSTA.YTJS AJOOLPHTJS.
Swedes to their camps at Gartz and Stolpe, and left
Wolgast to the King. Here lie received overtures
from Bogislaus XIV., Duke of Pomerania, to which
Gustavus replied hy the messengers, "that the King
would cany his answer in person to the Duke their
master." A detachment of Swedish troops were now
re-emharked to repair by water to Stettin, the ancient
capital and ducal residence of Pomerania, before which
place they arrived and disembarked without opposition
and in excellent order. Torquato di Conti, when he
saw the King's drift, attempted to throw a body of
troops into the place before he reached it, but his alert
and energetic enemy was there before him. The town
was immediately invested, when Colonel Damitz, the
Governor, despatched a trumpeter conveying his desire
to the Swedish army not to approach within gun-shot.
The King having ascertained that the Duke himself
was in Stettin, replied, " Tell Damitz, it is not my
custom to treat with men of his stamp by the inter-
vention of an interpreter." The Governor, puzzled with
the inuendo couched in this answer, himself repaired to
Gustavus, who cordially shook him by the hand, and,
pointing to his troops, told him, " Behold, sir, there is
the key of my admission." While the colloquy lasted
between the King and Damitz, a concourse of magis-
trates and citizens flocked out of the fortress, curious to
see the King, who, being informed that the burgo-
master was amongst them, went up to him, and moving
his hat, shook him heartily by the hand, telling him
" he came to visit them and the good people of Germany
in the character of a friend, and not in that of a king."
During this interval Duke Bogislaus himself arrived in
a sedan chair. The King, with his accustomed good-
natured politeness, met him half-way. After some
conference, the Pomeranian Sovereign, a poor and super-
annuated Prince, replied, " I must necessarily submit
to superior power and the will of Providence ;" to
which speech Gustavus, touching him gently on the
GUSTAVUS ADOLl'UUS.
shoulder, upon seeing the windows and walls of the
palace crowded with ladies, rejoined with artful plea-
santly, " Yonder fan- defendants of your garrison would
not hold out three minutes against one company of
Dalicarnian infantry : you should behave yourself,
cousin, with greater prowess in the married state (the
Duke was already seventy years old, and had no issue),
or else permit me to request you to adopt me for your
son and successor." In this remark the King spoke
his full meaning, and upon the old man's death in the
course of the war, the Swedes held possession of Pome-
rania as his successors, and it was confirmed to them by
the treaty of Munster 8. When the Duke returned to
the town, Lord Eeay, Colonel of the Scottish brigade,
was privately instructed by Gustavus to escort Bogis-
laus back in his chair, with due military honour, to his
capital, and he, keeping close to him, entered the gates
with 200 chosen Scotch musketeers, who immediately
secured the outward gate, when the garrison submitted,
and on the King's invitation at once enrolled them-
selves, to the number of 1200 men, amongst the Swedish
army, where they were long known as the White
Brigade. Gustavus ordered the officers and soldiers to
pitch their tents on the ramparts, because he did not
choose them to incommode or molest the citizens.
The King himself took up his bed on board a ship that
lay in the mouth of the Oder, saying, " That a furred
cloak for a general, and clean straw for a soldier, made
excellent beds for the subjects of a King who lay in a
hammock." This happened to be a Saturday night,
and on Sunday he went to the parade with his soldiers,
and led them three times in the day to church, assigning
this reason to his officers and soldiers, " That though
war might be their amusement, yet religion was man's
first business." The citizens were astonished at con-
6 Harte.
L50
I [T8TAVUS AD0LP1II S.
Gustavus
lays sio^c
to Meck-
lenburg.
duct so utterly at variance with that of the Imperial
troops, and were so charmed with the King's right-
minded conduct, affability, and kindness of manner,
that they advanced His Majesty from their own private
stores a very considerable subsidy of money.
Gustavus, while he remained at Stettin, to settle the
treaty with the Duke of Pomerania, began to be im-
patient for action, and despatched Baner, with Lord
Reay's Scotchmen, to make themselves masters of
Damra, a small fortress six miles distant. The inha-
bitants, upon hearing of the approach of these 1200
soldiers, like good politicians, sent Baner word, that, as
a town taken by storm rarely escaped plunder and
misery, they would leave a postern gate open to him
in the night ; which hint the General very prudently
took, and passed into the fortress soon after sunset.
Stargard, a stronger fortress not far distant, was in the
hands of an Imperial Governor, who had lately imposed
a heavy contribution on the inhabitants. Gustavus
accordingly sent the White Brigade against it, who,
fraternizing with the townsmen, scaled the walls ; and
the garrison soon capitulated. Here was captured a
rich magazine of corn and provisions. Camin, a sea-
port and an episcopal town on the promontory, also
underwent the same fate. The Swedes were every
where received with open arms, as well in town as in
country ; for they paid ready money for all they took,
and respected private property on every march. The
Imperialists, on pretence of cutting off the resources of
the enemy, wTere ordered by Torquato di Conti to lay
every place waste, and to plunder without compassion.
Accordingly, every one of them that fell into the hands
of the Pomeranian peasantiy was remorselessly mur-
dered. As it was now the middle of August, the King
formed a general cam]) under the walls of Stettin, which
be committed to the care of Gustavus Horn, and a re-
inforcement of 8000 troops was opportunely received
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 151
out of Livonia. He resolved, as his next enterprise, to
attempt the conquest of Mecklenburg, which lies con-
tiguous to Pomerania, partly with the desire of recover-
ing the dominion that properly belonged to his kinsman,
the deprived Duke, and partly with a view to insult
WaUenstein in his new acquisition, — an enterprise that
he knew would be highly popular with all the Princes
of the Empire, and the possession of which would
render him master of the entire shore of the Baltic.
Torquato di Conti, although an Italian by birth, had Narrow
considerable Spanish pride in his composition, and pro- ^caPe ot
fessed to despise Gustavus, whom he loudly threatened near Da-
with his intention to provide him good employment, mm'
and to teach him that he had left his laurels in the
groves of Prussia. This man, though a braggart, was
regarded as a good general ; and, since he could not
drive the King out of Stettin, he endeavoured to render
its possession useless to him, by intrenching himself at
Gartz, situated upon the Oder above Stettin, in order
to cut off all communication between the Pomeranian
capital and the rest of Germany. With Roman cau-
tiousness, he dared not attack the Swedes, who were
superior to him in numbers ; but, with Spanish craft,
he thought to overreach Gustavus by fraud and strata-
gem. One of his officers, of the name of Quinti, had
amassed much ill-acquired wealth in Damin, which the
Swedes were next about to besiege, and he was induced
by Di Conti to carry out the cowardly scheme. This des-
perate character deserted by permission to the Swedes,
and had the address to get admitted a Lieutenant-
Colonel in Falkenberg's regiment. One day the King,
with a very small escort, went out to view in person
Torquato's lines, when Quinti galloped forward to ap-
prise the Imperial General, who sent out 500 cuirassiers
to form an ambuscade. These succeeded in enclosing the
King and his entire Swedish escort in a narrow pass,
whence they could neither advance nor retreat. No
private soldier could make a braver defence than Gus-
152 GUSTAVUS ADO LP 11 1 9.
fcavu8 did; and, in spite of tin- disproportion of six to
one, the Swedes kept firm to their leader, nor did a
single man flinch. The King had two horses killed
under him, and was obliged to fight hand to hand on
foot. He would doubtless have been taken prisoner;
but when they attempted to carry him off, he moved
so sullenly that his companions had time to throw
themselves around him in despair, and in the struggle
recovered him, every man being alike determined to
die or conquer for the person of their King. At length
a Livonian Colonel in the army, who got uneasy at his
master's non-appearance, despatched a troop of horse to
obtain intelligence about him, and, finding what was the
state of affairs, came up at the head of a considerable
detachment, who routed the Neapolitans. An attempt
was afterwards made bv a German monk, at Di Conti's
instigation, to deliver a packet of poisoned letters to
the King ; but that attempt was ldtewise detected and
frustrated.
Capture of ^ somewhat singular and curious accident brought
Colberg. °
Gustavus the fortress of Kiigenwalt, a large town with a good
enters the harbour, into the possession of the Swedes. Some 700
Mecklen- Scots, who were crossing the Baltic, under llobert
burg. Monro, to join the Swedish army, had the misfor-
tune to be wrecked off that port. The Governor
was a Pomeranian, who was, however, in command of
an Imperial garrison ; but this man listened to the
proposition of Monro, who offered, with his ship-
wrecked companions, if he would leave open a postern
gate at night, to clear the town of associates little
agreeable to their two respective masters. By singular
fortitude and presence of mind the scheme was success-
ful; and Monro, having got inside the dismantled
castle, maintained himself for the space of nine weeks,
till his countryman, Colonel Hepburn, sent by Oxen-
stierna out of Livonia, arrived to his support with his
regiment. Being soon afterwards joined by some
Pomeranians and Swedes, under Kniphausen, they
GTTSTAYUS ADOLPHUS. 153
blockaded Colberg ; and the King, on being apprised
of these strokes of fortune, observed that " be began
to hope that the Supreme Being now gave marks of
approbation in support of his cause."
The greater part of Pomerania being now secure,
Gustavus, having previously secured Stolpe, embarked
12,000 chosen men at Stettin, and, passing Wolgast
and Stralsund, surprised Barth, and then took by storm
Riebnitz and Darngarten, which opened a passage
for him into the Duchy of Mecklenburg ; and as soon
as he obtained this footing, he invited the inhabitants
to disown Wallenstein as their Duke, and to return to
their ancient fine of princes. Meanwhile Torquato The Duke
di Conti, to bring back the Kins:, attacked Horn in SaveUl s
. unsuccess-
his mtrenchments at Stettin, but was there repulsed m mo-ve-
with considerable loss ; and accordingly he despatched ments in
an army under the Duke of Savelli into the Duchy of 0f Mecklen-
Mecklenburg, in order to counteract the King's mo- burg,
tions there. He however did no good by this division
of his forces, and wasted the rest of the campaign in a
sort of desponding inactivity. Perhaps he thought to
give time to Tilly to hasten to the defence of the
PrincipaHties. Under these circumstances the Impe-
rial General resolved to allow his army the repose of
winter-quarters ; but he found he had to do with an
enemy who did not recognize the chmate of Germany
as a winter at all. Gustavus had had the forethought
to provide his soldiers with coats of sheep-skin and
other comforts, to enable them to keep the field in the
most inclement season ; and he said with pride, " My
Swedes are soldiers in winter as well as in summer.
The Imperialists are not to suppose that they will re-
main undisturbed." The piercing cold, however, pro-
duced such a general mortality amongst Torquato's
army, that their numbers were daily diminished by de-
sertion and death, and all discipline threatened to come
to an end ; so that their General resigned a command in
which neither wealth nor reputation was to be acquired.
154 GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.
The remainder of his army were incessantly harassed
in their winter-quarters by the Swedes after he quitted
them, and were glad to withdraw out of Fomerania
into Brandenburg, sacrificing much of their artillery
and baggage, and losing many prisoners in their re-
treat. Savelli, however, acting for Wallenstein as
Duke of Mecklenburg, and desirous of securing the
good graces of that General, despatched 4000 men to
cut a passage for themselves into liostock, which de-
tachment the Swedes encountered and handled very
roughly ; hut nevertheless they succeeded in their
object, and the King left Baner to keep them in that
town blockaded.
Pappen- The ejected and exiled Dukes of Mecklenburg
luMiii, sent na(j in effectually employed the Diet assembled at
takes the Ratisbon to intercede with the Emperor for their
Duke of restoration to their Duchy. But driven to despair
enberg mi- ^y Ferdinand's inflexibility, they now openly espoused
sonev at the side of Sweden, and, raising troops, gave the
Ratzburg. commant| 0f them to the Duke of Saxe Lauenberg,
who made himself master of several strong places on
the Elbe, which induced Tilly to detach General Pap-
penheim to check him ; which he did with little dilli-
culty, for he contrived to shut him up in his own
Id-other's town of Ratzburg, and he made him prisoner
there. Gustavus, however, had in the mean time
cut out other work for the Imperial General. The
King had roused Prince Christian of Brandenburg,
the Administrator of Magdeburg, to take up arms, and
had given him letters of credit, for which he made
himself responsible, to obtain the requisite funds. On
this the magistrates and people of the city rallied
round him, and he got together a force of infantry and
cavalry amounting to 4500 men. With this force
Christian had made some successful raids in the adjoin-
ing count ry; but Pappenheim, the most able and
active of all the Imperial Generals, soon compelled
such a novice in the art of war as the Administrator
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 155
to contract his sallies, and at length reduced him to
shelter his forces within the city of Magdeburg, round
which he formed his army in blockade.
On the 23rd of December, 1630, the King crossed Gustavus
the Oder, at a moment when his adversaries concluded Sfp*S.res
' ... (jreiffen-
him to be resting in winter-quarters ; and, after re- hagen and
viewing his troops, and finding them to consist of Gartz.
12,000 infantry, 85 squadrons of horse, and 70 pieces t
of cannon, he invested Greiffenhagen, at break of
day, after a midnight march, although Schomberg
lay with an army at Gartz, on the opposite bank of
the river. The town of Greiffenhagen stands on the
north-east side of the Oder, about twelve miles from
Stettin ; and, by means of its bridge, is the great com-
munication between Pomerania and the marshes of
Brandenburg. Gustavus sent a detachment with
orders that it should intrench itself on the eastern foot
of Gartz-bridge, to keep back Schomberg from sending
to disturb him. His Majesty, having then examined
the ground about Greiffenhagen, placed sixty pieces of
large siege guns in battery, and, opening a heavy fire,
soon made a breach, after which he battered the wall,
so that with three practicable openings, each capable of
admitting three men abreast, he ordered an assault, in
which the Governor, Ferdinando di Capua, a Neapo-
litan, died bravely resisting the Swedes, who had some
ado to extinguish the flames which a handful of the
Imperialists had kindled in several places ; but the
town was secured, and given up to free plunder for four
hours. Such, however, was the King's discipline, that,
although he was obliged to gratify his men with spoil,
no personal outrages were committed. Gustavus, imme-
diately after Christmas-day, crossed the Oder, to attack
Schomberg in his camp at Gartz, and finding a newly-
constructed fort called Capua's Sconce, or Fort Morritz,
in his way, he caused it to be carried with hardly any
resistance. When preparing to proceed to Gartz, word
was brought that the town was in flames ; and it was
150 BUSTAVTT8 A DOLPHUS.
discovered thai Schomberg had decamped, alter having
sunk his guns in the river, burned the bridge, and carried
off his troops to Frankfort on the Oder, where he pro-
posed to establish a camp. The Swedish army was soon
on his traces, and roughly treated the rearguard under
Colonel Spar, taking 300 baggage waggons. Frankfort
was soon found too distant for him to escape to, so
that he was fain to make haste to reach Kustrin, which
opened its gates to him, and deprived Gustavus of the
opportunity he expected of cutting off Schomberg's
army before it could effect a junction with Tilly's.
Treaty of The month of January, 1031, was opened with nego-
ulhuncebe- tiations. The King, who was as industrious in the
tween .^we- . . °
den and cabinet as in the field, entered into treaties with the
Prance. Archbishop of Bremen, George Duke of Luneberg,
lays siege William Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, and concluded in
toDemmin. the camp of Bernwalt, in the Marquisate of Branden-
burg, the articles of alliance between France and
Sweden, which had been projected the previous year.
The principal articles of the treaty were, that His
Majesty of Sweden should maintain an army on foot,
consisting of 30,000 men, and that the French Xing
should furnish him annually with 400,000 crowns,
in two separate payments, at the choice of the King of
Sweden. During the interval of negotiation, Leslie, with
his Scottish men, rendered himself master of the Castle
of Lignitz, of which Gustavus made him a present for a
country villa ; and, paying no regard to one of the most
severe winters that Germany had felt for many years,
several other acts of successful bravery under endurance
were accomplished ; until the King, being joined by
Kniphausen, invested Demmin, a place of considerable
importance on the banks of the Pene, which had been
made the grand Imperial magazine on the shores of the
Baltic, and of which no less a person than the Duke
of Savelli had constituted himself Governor, having
General Hoik serving under him with 1700 veteran
troops as garrison. His Majestj thundered against the
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 157
town from his batteries erected the first afternoon and
night after the investment, and next morning sent
Teufel to repulse a general sally that had been ordered
by Savelli. In a few clays Kniphausen made a lodgment
on the fortifications, and obliged the garrison to with-
draw to an old tower, of which it was thought the walls
were so thick that cannon would have no effect upon
them. Gustavus accordingly ordered it to be under-
mined, which was accomplished, in spite of the frost in
the ground ; and Hoik, with seven companies, sur-
rendered, and consented to enter the King's service. In
this action one Heatly, an English officer, and Eobert
Eoss, a Scottish officer, greatly distinguished them-
selves by their resolution and coolness. On the fourth
morning Savelli sent to make proposals to the King,
and concluded terms, by which he undertook not to
serve against Sweden or its allies for three months.
Tilly had written to beseech Savelli to hold out only Character
four days longer, when he promised to come up to his of Savelli-
assistance ; and he was so enraged at his submission
that he lodged a process against him at Vienna, which
brought his life in question, but he was protected by
the Emperor. When Savelli marched out with the
garrison, Gustavus met him on horseback, and was
astounded at seeing him dressed in a large periwig,
afterwards called cliedreux, when it had become the
fashion. The foppery of it excited the disgust of
Gustavus, who thought so fantastical a dress to be
unworthy a soldier on the field, and therefore with
some indignation told him " he was more fitted to
shine in a drawing-room than on a field of battle."
Savelli, however, though in outward appearance the
fine gentleman, was not a worthy character. He
was the oddest mixture imaginable of bigotry,
cruelty, and rapine. He was considered as one of
the Inquisitors-General, rather than a General Go-
vernor in Mecklenburg, for he took proceedings
to allow no child in the Duchy to receive the rite
158 OTTSTA.VUS ABOLPIIl'S.
of baptism from the hands of a Lutheran minister,
and troubled the religious scruples of the community,
while he was sordid and avaricious in plundering the
country. At one time it happened that a number of
horses was received as contributions from the gentry
and fanners of the district, when, not thinking them
from their leanness and ill plight to be worth selling or
worth redeeming, he had them killed and flayed, and
put the money obtained for the hides into his own
pocket 7.
The Elcc- The Imperialists had now thrown themselves into
T?r . ^ the marshes of Brandenburg, which accordingly became
bnrg resists the theatre of the most barbarous atrocities. These
the Impe- outrages were inflicted upon a Prince, who, though a
wi lists
Protestant, had not taken up arms against the Em-
peror ; and it was the worse policy, because there
existed many concurrent reasons for expecting that
the Elector might be incited in consequence of them
to take up arms for the King. At length, in spite
of his most pressing remonstrances, being left without
redress or under a force sufficient to repress the dis-
orders or protect his territories from the excesses of the
mercenaries, the Elector issued an edict, ordering his
subjects to repel force by force, and to put to death
without mercy every Imperial soldier who might
henceforth be detected in plundering.
Siege and As soon as Tilly, marching up from Frankfort on
captnre ^he Oder, to raise the siege of Demmin, heard of its
of New .
Brandon- fall, be turned aside to New Brandenburg. This place
burg by the was garrisoned by Kniphausen with 2000 Swedes and
i-K "and "of Irtish, who had been ordered by Gustavus to retire.
Frankfort This man was an approved commander of the King's —
Od l<\ a scu(lier °f slow, but excellent parts, whose principle
the Swedes, was to leave something to fortune, and to say, " Come
what may, a grain of good luck is better than an ounce
of good sense." Not receiving the King's commands
1 Haiti'.
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 159
to give the place up, he felt certain that he should be
relieved, because he was quite destitute of artillery to
make a long defence. He therefore acquitted himself
like a good soldier, and for some days endured the pelt-
ing storm of Tilly's guns, which made little impression
upon the walls. It was now the eighth day after the
bombardment had begun, when Raymond Count cli
Montecucculi, then in his twenty-eighth year, disco-
vered a hole in the wall, into which he led some troops
rashly and without orders ; but being well supported,
he succeeded in securing the gates, and presented the
city keys to the astonished General before he had
learned the attack. Gustavus, however, was pleased
with Kniphausen for his fidelity, and would often
afterwards remark of him, " This is the man who de-
fended a walled village against Tilly." The King was,
however, enraged that the Imperial General had put
to the sword 2000 Swedes and Germans. He had
arrived as far as Anklam on the Pene, on his way to
relieve Kniphausen, when he heard of this massacre,
and avowed that he would make Tilly behave more
like a person of humanity than a savage Croatian.
Tilly, however, passed on westward unchecked, to join
Pappenheim under the walls of Magdeburg, while
Gustavus, with 18,000 men, 200 pieces of cannon,
and a pontoon train 180 feet long, hastened eastward
to get possession, if possible, of Frankfort on the
Oder, of which General Tieffenback, who was Camp-
Master-General of the Imperial army, was consti-
tuted Governor. The place was invested on the 1st
of April, " veteri Germanorum consuetudine ludibrii
plena die." The King, being in haste lest Tilly
should come back upon him, would neither construct
lines nor approaches, nor leave the enemy much
time for reflection, but determined to storm the town
sword in hand. A battery of twelve heavy guns was
opened upon the Guber Gate, and several other bat-
teries played at the same time to create a diver-
100 GU8TAYU8 ADOI/PHUS.
sion, while tho yellow and blue brigades got ready
for an assault with the white brigade in support,
and the Bhinegrave, with the cavalry, protected the
rest of the artillery, and kept a sharp eye on the
road that Tilly might be likely to advance upon. Gus-
tavus himself, calling on Hepburn and Lumsden by
name, to assist him with their " valiant Scots, and
to remember Brandenburg," placed a petard on the
Guber Gate, and shivered it to pieces with such effect
on the nerves of the defenders, that they forgot to let
fall the portcullis, and the Swedes, instantly rushing in,
formed themselves up as quickly as the narrow street
would allow, and went forward. At length the yellow
and blue brigades — two bodies of troops the most
highly esteemed in the Swedish army — got inside, and
the Imperialist garrison was cut to pieces. Tieffen-
back and Schomberg escaped over the bridge, and con-
ducted their flying troops to Great Glogau, in Silesia,
nearly sixty miles distant : 1700 of the garrison were
left dead in the town, fifty colours were captured, and
a great many officers taken prisoners. His Majesty
took infinite pains to prevent pillage, and exercised his
baton on the heads of the assailants without remorse.
But the town was known to be the depository of all
the ill-gotten wealth of the Imperialists, and the men
could not be restrained. Ten baggage waggons were
taken, containing the plate and money belonging
to the generals ; eighteen pieces of great ordnance,
and 900 cpiintals of gunpowder were found in the
arsenal.
Interview The King confided the charge of Frankfort to Leslie,
with the \nt\\ directions to repair and improve the fortifications ;
Berlin. ' an(l then, having despatched the Bhinegrave and Bau-
Tilly and ditzen with a flying corps into Silesia, and ordered
heuneffect D^ridi Balkenberg, an experienced officer, to make
a junction, the best of his way back, and get into Magdeburg, to
direct the Administrator's military operations there
with his counsel, Gustavus thought fit to turn back, and
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 161
look after his friends — the two Electors — of whose fide-
lity he had some misgivings. On the way he turned
aside a little, on the 16th of April, to attack and carry
Landsherg on the Warthe ; he now sent before him
Count Ortemberg, and, after him, Gustavus Horn, with
some troops, to Berlin, on a mission to the Elector:
they were directed to require from him the occupation
of Kustrin and Spandau, as also subsistence and pay for
his army. He followed them quickly in person, to make
his demands more effectual upon his brother-in-law, at
the head of a flying escort of five squadrons and four
guns. His Majesty and the Elector met about a mile
from Berlin, where they were joined by Albert Duke
of Mecklenburg ; but they had made no way in any
accommodation, until the Electress, his mother-in-law,
and the ladies of the Court, came into the house in
which they were assembled. Terms were then soon
agreed upon, and Gustavus was invited to dine and sleep
in Berlin, under the protection of his own guard 8. The
King only succeeded, however, in obtaining agreement
to the appointment of his own officer, Colonel Axel
Lilly, as Governor of Spandau, but could not obtain
possession of Kustrin for a longer period than a month ;
nor could he persuade the Elector, by the most eloquent
appeals to his Protestantism, to join him in an imme-
diate attempt for the relief of Magdeburg. Gustavus,
however, carried forward his army to Potsdam, and
thence sent to request John George of Saxony to join
him with his forces, or else to permit his army to
march through his Electorate, in order to raise the
siege ; both which requests this Prince denied him,
alleging that the Imperial troops coming up out of
Italy, under the command of Aldringer, would shortly
be upon him. The Elector was equally deaf to the
8 The great Frederick relates that when his ancestor was
remonstrated with for his concessions, he said, " Mais que faire ?
Ik ont des canons," an argument which to the mind of the
Elector George William it was impossible to gainsay.
M
102 (.1 STATUS ADOLPIIUS.
solicitations contained in a second letter from the
King, far more urgent than the former ; hut the
poor potentate seemed as one petrified with alarm,
and would only grant Gustavus permission to trans-
port provisions and powder through his dominions to
the distressed garrison at Magdeburg*.
Political The King was still at Potsdam on the 10th of May,
conse- -n £jie mi(ist 0f au his negotiations, when he was an-
< 1116] LCGS Ol
the fall of prised of the fall of Magdeburg. Tilly, while he was
Magde- yefc uncertain of mastering the place, and was appre-
hensive of the further advance of Gustavus, with, it
has been thought, unworthy precipitation ordered the
bridge of Dessau, at the confluence of the Mulda and
the Elbe, to be destroyed, to protect his rear. But this
timid precaution now prevented him from advancing
against his foe in the open field, or from obstructing
the conquests of the Swedes on the other side of the
river ; moreover, the Imperialist army now marched
away through the Harz forest, which left both the
fluctuating Electors without Imperial support, entirely
under the influence of the King.
The King's Throughout Germany the dreadful fate inflicted
inaction a^ ^-g ^me ^ ^he conqueror on the population of
Magdeburg spread terror and consternation among
the Protestants ; and the inaction of Gustavus for
their relief was the subject of loud and general com-
plaint against the " Bulwark of the Protestant faith."
Full justice was not, however, done to the wondrous
performances of the " Lion of the North," In eight
months' time he had made himself master of fourscore
cities, forts, and castles, and had cleared the whole
country beliind him to the shores of the Baltic — a
district nearly 140 miles in breadth. This " King of
9 This place, so celehrated for its most unmerited sufferings
at the hands of Tilly in the Seven Years' War, derives its name
of Maiden-toivn from the worship of Venus, for which it was
celehrated, until converted to Christianity, with the rest of
Saxony, hy Charlemagne.
GTISTAYUS ADOLPHUS. 163
Snow," as the German Emperor's councillors called
him, in misplaced derision, was at the same time con-
tinuing to gain ground every hour. His army in the
same period had increased from 20,000 to nearly 40,000
men ; and his troops in reserve in Sweden, consisting of
25,000 soldiers, were now very efficient from their dis-
cipline, and ready to cross the Baltic when required.
But the position Gustavus held in Germany made it
necessary that he should not move forward without
securing his flanks and rear ; a single premature move-
ment might interrupt all communication with his own
kingdom. But he had other impediments which pre-
vented him from rendering the assistance which was
required and expected of him. Two routes led to
Magdeburg : the one, on which the enemy might dis-
pute with him the passage of the Elbe ; the other, where
the bridges at Dessau and Wittenberg would enable
him to cross that river. But he could not adopt this
latter route, nor avail himself of the supplies of Saxony,
without the concurrence of the Sovereigns of the two
Electorates through which he must pass, both of whom,
if not hostile, were at least to be mistrusted. At the
same time, lest he should lose irretrievably the good
will of the people for whose deliverance he had entered
upon the war, Gustavus thought himself under the
necessity of publishing to the world a justification of
his conduct. Injurious, however, as were the immediate
consequences of the fall of Magdeburg, its remoter
effects were most advantageous to the Protestant cause.
Active resentment at the conduct of the Emperor and
the Imperial General arose after the first consternation
had a little subsided. Despair inspired courage, and
the ultimate liberty and freedom of Germany arose like
a phoenix out of the ashes of that ill-fated town l.
Among the Princes of the Leipzig Confederation, the The King
Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse were r£mp^s
of Meek -
> Sehiller. lenburS-
M 2
164 GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.
still lukewarm in the Emperor's interests, as well as
in those of Gustavus ; but Hesse was already " pro-
nouncing ;" and against the hitter, therefore, Tilly
proceeded from Magdeburg through Thuringia ; and,
crossing the Harz forest, he advanced onwards as far
as Erfurt. Meanwhile the King quitted Berlin, and,
making a speedy visit to Stettin, marched on to Gus-
trow, having resolved to avail himself of the absence of
the Imperialist General to reinstate the two proscribed
Princes of Mecklenburg. As that age loved pomp, he
determined that their inauguration should be as splendid
as circumstances would admit of. The clergy, the
senators, and the nobility, headed the procession. Then
came the elder Duke, dressed in a court suit of mourn-
ing, attended by thirty-six halberdiers. After the Sove-
reign, who was preceded by a band of trumpeters,
followed the King of Sweden on horseback, dressed in
green, with a blue and white plume in his hat. He
was attended by twenty-four running footmen, and by
an escort of cavah-y. The junior Duke marched after,
attended by Prince Ulric of Denmark, the Dukes of
Pomerania and Courland, and all the Princes and Prin-
cesses of the House of Mecklenburg. A body of ladies
and gentlemen, in 130 coaches, and 1800 cavaliers well
mounted and well habited, closed the procession. This
cavalcade marched first to the great Church, where
divine service was performed, and afterwards to the
Town-hall, where the Chancellor, Oxenstierna, made
an oration, and exhorted all to disclaim Wallenstein,
and acknowledge their natural masters.
Gustavus The King, who never for a moment removed his
aollnat68 thoughts from the transactions of the campaign, now
Tilly. returned without delay to his camps at and near New
Brandenburg, and, adopting another plan of taking
advantage of his adversary's absence, he crossed the
Elbe in the first days of July, and advanced to the
very bridge of Magdeburg. This obliged Pappenheim,
who was there in command, to withdraw within the
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 165
town ; and he was indeed so much alarmed at this
inroad of Gustavus, that he anxiously called back Tilly
to his assistance, and prevailed upon him to return
by rapid marches to Magdeburg ; which proceedings
checked the movements of the King.
Tilly therefore appeared at Wolmerstadt at the mo-
ment when Gustavus, on the same side of the river,
was most judiciously encamped at Werben, not far
from the confluence of the Havel and the Elbe. On
the 17th, the Swedes routed three or four of the Im-
perial regiments, and burned or captured their baggage.
This induced Tilly to offer the King battle ; but Gus-
tavus, deeming his position strong, and that he was
not in sufficient force to hazard an attack, declined it.
However, in order to secure himself where he was, he
commanded Baner to take Havelburg by assault, since
by possessing that place he secured the western bank
of that river as far as Spandau. The attack was made
at daybreak, and the blue brigade, under Winkel, crossed
the river with astonishing resolution, though the water
was up to the men's shoulders. The action was brisk
while it lasted ; but the place yielded with 410 pri-
soners, without much loss to the Swedes. "While Gus-
tavus was at Werben, the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel,
who had just narrowly escaped a visit from Tilly,
arrived in the King's camp, — the first German So-
vereign who had voluntarily and openly joined Gusta-
vus. A treaty was speedily concluded between the
two Sovereigns, and Hesse Cassel adhered to the
Swedish alliance during the whole of the remainder of
the war.
The Queen of Sweden landed at Wolgast with 8000 Tilly enters
men, and joined her illustrious husband in the camp at ry*°?yJ
Werben. just the very day twelvemonth on which they clares for
had separated in Sweden. But Tilly also received a tne Pr°-
reinforcement of 18,000 men under Furstenberg, and Union,
now sent his orders to the Elector of Saxony to open
his territories to the Imperial troops ; and either to
!(j(J i,l MAVIS ADOLPHUS.
disband his army or unite it with the army of the
Emperor, in order that he might lend a hand to drive
the intruder out of Germany: and he threatened, in
case of refusal, the most destructive ravages upon the
Electorate. John George, who had by no means cor-
dially welcomed the Swedes, was not disposed to admit
so imperious a requisition, hut in reply contented him-
self for the moment with forbidding the quartering of
the Imperial troops within his territories. Tilly, in
consequence, broke up his camp to carry out his threat,
and with the most frightful devastation carried his
army to Halle, where he renewed his demands upon the
Elector in a style still more peremptory and threaten-
ing ; for he demanded that the passage of the Elbe at
the bridge of Wittenberg should be yielded to him.
The Saxon Elector, rendered desperate by this, and by
the appeals of his suffering people, immediately de-
spatched Field-Marshal Arnheim to the camp of Gus-
tavus, to solicit the prompt assistance of the monarch,
whom he had hitherto neglected, and so long tacitly
opposed. " I am sorry for the Elector," replied the
King, who could scarcely conceal the satisfaction he
felt at this long wished-for result ; " had His Highness
heeded my repeated remonstrances, his country would
never have seen the face of an enemy, and Magdeburg
would not have fallen. But I will not ruin my own
cause for the sake of the Elector of Saxony, who may
abandon me as soon as the Emperor flatters him, and
withdraws his troops from his frontiers. Tilly, it is
true, has received strong reinforcements ; but this shall
not prevent me from meeting him in the field with
confidence as soon as I have covered my rear, and am
otherwise prepared to attack him." He nevertheless
gave Arnheim to understand, that he was ready to act
with his master on certain concessions and advances
made on the Elector's part. " I require," said Gus-
tavus, "that the Elector shall cede to me the fortress
of Wittenberg, that the Electoral Prince shall serve in
GUSTAVTJS ADOLPHLS. 167
my army as a hostage, that my troops shall he sup-
plied with three months' pay, and" (knowing that the
Elector had an Austrian faction among his councillors,
of whom Arhheim the negotiator was thought to he
one) " I must require that all traitors shall be delivered
up to me, that I may myself judge and punish them."
John George readily and promptly acceded to these
terms, and the King invited him, together with his
brother-in-law the Elector of Brandenburg, to meet
him at Torgau in a council of war ; they assembled there
to determine upon the course they should immediately
adopt ; for Tilly with 44,000 veterans had now invested
Leipzig, and had threatened it with the fate of Magde-
burg.
Both Harte and Schiller profess to give the grand The Saxons
political debate which took place at Torgau at this gv^e(jese
juncture. There is no doubt that the " Snow King," against
who had by this time become a veritable snow-ball Tm-y-
(vires acquirit eundo), had by the alliances which he
had cemented with the Electors of Saxony and Bran-
denburg, the Dukes of Mecklenburg and Pomerania,
and the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, attained a secure
and well-supported position hi the north of Germany. It
was necessary, however, to deal with his new associates
with a good deal of tact, for he suspected the selfishness
of his new allies, and therefore began by working upon
their fears. " Shall we resolve upon battle ? Fortune
is changeable, and heaven may, for our sins, give the
victory to our enemies. I may be safe under the worst
consequences of a defeat ; but what chances of escape
are there for you ? If we should happen to be over-
come, you Princes are lost beyond redemption." Gus-
tavus, having thus spoken with the modest diffidence
of a hero and as an experienced statesman, saw that the
Elector of Saxony, smarting under the indignities he
had received, was impatient and moved to the last
degree at seeing his country oppressed by the presence
of contending armies, and depopulated by the excesses
108 GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.
of the Imperialists, and, overcoming all his fears,
earnestly longed for a battle. So that, after some
minor objections and representations, this was deter-
mined upon. No general could have acted with more
coolness and judgment than Gustavus Adolphus. He
had prepared in his mind for this result, and for speedy
action. The bridge of Wittenberg being in his
hands, he had already issued orders to Horn and Baner
to meet him at this place of rendezvous, about sixteen
miles from thence; Colonel Hay had been directed
to occupy Havelburg ; Avhile Bauditzen was now de-
sired to remain in charge of the camp at Werben.
The King, however, with the delicacy of a man of
honour and station, kept all his troops on the western
bank of the Elbe, that he might leave the Saxon army
encamped on the right bank until he obtained from the
Elector his authority in writing to cross the bridge.
The united Swedish and Saxon armies then crossed
the Mulda early on the morning of the 7th of Sep-
tember, 1631, before, it is said, Tilly knew any thing
of the junction of the Saxons, and the hostile armies
came in presence of each other on the plain of Breiten-
feld, a small town about four miles from Leipzig.
The battle The King's Governor of that city, one Yopel, had
°f «*? : weakly yielded it up to the Imperialist General two
victorious, days previously ; and the Castle of Pleisenberg had
surrendered after about a week's resistance in the same
disgraceful manner. Aldringer and TiefFenback were also
at this time hourly expected to arrive from Erfurt with
reinforcements. Tilly was disposed to await them, and,
if possible, avoid a battle until they should come up.
Gustavus, however, on the other hand, was intent on
bringing matters to an issue, and had left all his baggage
and tents behind him in his camp, because he hoped
to keep the ardour of his men upon the alert, and
thought it would do them no harm at this season to
sleep in the open field without their tents. His Majesty
having then arranged his order of battle, called round
gustAvus adolphus. 169
him his generals the evening before the action, and told
them " they were about to fight to-morrow troops all
of them of a different stamp from the Polanders or
Cossacks to which they had been hitherto opposed.
Fellow-soldiers," he said, " I will not dissemble the
danger of the crisis. You will have a day's work that
will be worthy of you, It is not my temper to diminish
the merit of veteran troops like the Imperialists ; but I
know my own officers well, and scorn the thought of
deceiving them. Our numbers are perhaps inferior ;
but God is just ; and remember Magdeburg." The
King then mounted his horse, and rode through the
ranks of his army with that peculiar cheerfulness and
confidence in his manner which was his characteristic,
and returned to get an hour or two's sleep in his coach
(when it is recorded by all historians that he dreamed
of a pugilistic conflict with Tilly, in which he floored
Mm). But at dawn of day he was on horseback again,
and reconnoitring the position of the two armies. The
Swedes counted 7000 horse and 8000 foot ; and the
Saxons 11,000 infantry and 4000 cavalry. The Im-
perialist army exceeded the numbers of the Swedes and
Saxons combined by between 5000 and 10,000 men.
As the Confederate army determined to make the
attack, the Imperial General had the choice of the
ground ; and he adopted the slope of a gently rising
hill to the south-west of Podelwitz. It was thought
in those days to be of great advantage in the defence
to have both sun and wind in your favour ; and these
Tilly had appropriately considered. Behind his position
was a large wood. The Imperialists wore white rib-
bons in their hats and helmets ; and the Confederates
sprigs of oak or holly. Two highways passed through
and across the field of battle. The Imperial fine made
only one extensive front from Soehausen to Lindenthal,
having neither second line nor reserve. The artillery
was placed on the eminences that rose behind their
position. The Confederate army was drawn up on the
170
GUSTAVUS ADOLtUUS.
Gustavus
totally
routs the
Impe-
rialists at
Leipzig.
plain — the Saxon army on the left, upon and behind an
eminence crowned by their guns, and the Swedes in dis-
tinct peletons, all acting together, but each under chief-
tains of their own, and so commanded as to have the
power of moving rapidly from place to place, thus con-
tributing to the King's power by massing the whole
when required on one point. This endeavour to make
his army a piece of machinery in his own hand on the
day of battle was a distinction of the King's creative
genius, since adopted by every one, but here practised
for the first time ; and many other expedients in the
tactics of his army equally showed his peculiarly careful
attention to details 2. The musketeers and horsemen
were either mixed together in a column, or, when moving
forward in fine, the infantry were flanked by cavalry.
Some of these expedients were, however, rather resorted
to as calculated to confound the enemy's tactics of that
time, than as permanent discoveries in war. The King
was also better served with intelligence than the Im-
perialist General, so that he came against Tilly with
many advantages unshared by the latter.
The Swedish and Saxon armies advanced to the
attack in compact columns, in order to pass the Loder
near Podelwitz, where Pappenheim, almost in spite of
his General's wishes and instructions, fell upon them
in their march, at the head of 2000 cuirassiers. The
King, clothed in a new suit of grey cloth, wear-
ing a green plumage on his beaver, and mounted
on a horse of the colour called " flea-bitten " (j)oil
d'etourneau), might be distinctly recognized by friend
and foe as he moved forward at the head of his horse to
the encounter of Pappenheim, and His Majesty pushed
his onset with a degree of resolution and fury that
could scarcely be exceeded, for he was desirous to get
the wind in his favour, and to secure the left flank
2 It has hcen stated that the fine disposition of his army made
by Gustavus in the battle of Leipzig added more to the art of war
than any that had been adopted since the time of Julius Csesar.
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHL'S. 171
from a battery that traversed it obliquely. In tbe end
the Imperialist left wing was obliged to a precipitate
retreat, in which they set fire to Podelwitz ; but this
incident did not in the least prevent the forward
advance of the Swedes, who readily passed through the
burning buildings. About a quarter of an hour later
in the day, Count Furstenberg, advancing to the attack
from the Imperial right, fell upon the Saxon army, also
without the order of his superior, and after a short
conflict broke them ; and Tilly, thinking the moment
favourable to complete the destruction of Arnheim, de-
scended from the hill on which he had placed himself,
and carried forward the centre, and was thus tempted to
follow the Saxons farther than a good commander ought
to have done. But not content with this advantage, he
fell heavily on the Swedish division of Horn, whose
left was exposed by the flight of the Saxons, but
who showed him a very spirited resistance. At this
opportune moment Gustavus came up, and, witnessing
the misbehaviour and defeat of the Saxons, sent a mes-
sage to Teufel to close in with a reinforcement of three
regiments to the aid of the Saxons, but that brave
officer was struck dead by a musket-ball just as he was
receiving the order. The King therefore took his
place, and, riding up to lead them, cheered them
forward, crying aloud, " Vivat ! vivat ! " The enemy
was seen to relax greatly under the vigour of this
attack. At the same moment the King discovered,
from the clouds of dust that annoyed him, that some
large masses of troops were near him ; and, asking
those around him what they were, he was told that
they were Swedes. But as he could not understand
how that could be in his order of battle, he galloped
right up to them, and, though his sight was rather
imperfect, he quickly returned, and rapidly organized
his troops to receive their attack. " They are Im-
perialists," he said ; " I see the Burgundian cross on
their ensigns." It was said, that it was on this occa-
172
GUSTAVUS AD0LPUU3.
sion that the two Scottish regiments, under Hepburn
and Monro3, first practised firing in platoons, Avhieh,
from being unknown hitherto, amazed and annoyed the
enemy to such a degree that, although they were the
celebrated Walloon infantry, under the valiant Cronen-
berg, they fell off in haste. It was now some minutes
after four o'clock, when the King, having no longer an
enemy to oppose, wheeled rapidly his whole right whig
to the left, and fell with all his might upon the heights
on which the Imperialist artillery was placed; when,
instantly gaining possession of the guns, he ordered the
fire of their own cannon to be turned upon the enemy.
Gustavus then ordered forward his whole centre to aid
this fortunate incident, and the play of the guns, and
the terrible onset of the Swedes, just at the fall of dusk,
threw the whole army into confusion, when the hitherto
unconquerable Walloons, now reduced to 600 men, had
nothing left them but to retreat from the field under
the protection of the darkness. With them fled the
wreck of Tilly's army, and the victoiy was complete 4.
Behaviour Amidst the dead and the wounded, Gustavus Adol-
of Gnsta- p]lus a£ once threw himself down on his knees, and the
vus after «.•»••.
his victory. nrst J°J of his success gushed forth in fervent thanks-
giving to the Almighty Giver of victory. Although it
was six o'clock, he ordered his cavalry to pursue the
enemy through the midst of the increasing darkness,
and desired that the alarm-bells should be eveiy where
set in motion to notify his victory to all the neighbour-
ing villages. The camp of the enemy was found stand-
ing, and there he encamped with his army. Almost all
the baggage fell into the hands of the conquerors, in
which was much ill-acquired plunder. Indeed, it was
said that there was hardly a soldier among the killed
3 In this battle there are said to have been thirty colonels, fifty-
two lieutenant-colonels, and fourteen majors, all Scotchmen, of
the families of Leslies, Ramsays, Mackays, and Monros, including,
of course, the classic major Dalgetty.
1 Schiller.
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 173
and wounded who had less than ten ducats in his pocket,
or concealed within his girdle or saddle. The King
directed each of his regiments to occupy the same
ground that had been held by an Imperial regiment,
and to possess themselves of all they might find there ;
but no man was allowed to plunder out of his own dis-
trict, under the most severe military pains and penalties.
7000 of the enemy lay dead on the field ; and 5000
prisoners, with all the Imperialist artillery and 100
standards and cornets, were the prize of the victors.
The Elector of Brandenburg had quitted the army
before the battle ; and the Elector of Saxony, who had
kept out of it while it raged, joined Gustavus in his
camp at night. The King welcomed him cordially,
and gave him all the credit of having advised the
battle, since he could not add any commendations on
the conduct of the Saxon troops ; and the Elector,
charmed with his reception, in his enthusiasm and in
the first transports of his joy, promised to Gustavus
the Koman crown. However, His Swedish Majesty
was not a man to sit down in a day-dream of future
greatness ; for it was his principle to be always up
and stirring. He recommended George Frederick to
look after the possession of Leipzig, while he himself
set forward with his army for Merseburg. Both places
surrendered, as well as Halle ; and, as the Confederate
army required repose, and the enjoyment of their
laurels, he rested his troops in their camp for ten days.
Many Protestant Princes, as well as the Elector of
Saxony, now joined the King in council ; for it was
necessary to concert future plans of operations. The
principal Imperial army that had held the field was
now totally routed ; and Tilly was required to collect
another army in Lower Saxony. The two Electorates
were accordingly free from any enemy. To pursue
Tilly was deemed loss of time, for he was, at all events
for the present, quite disabled. Two courses were there-
fore open to the Confederates, who agreed after some
174
OUSTAYUS ADOLPIIUS.
Gustavus
takes Er-
furt and
Marien-
berg.
discussion to adopt both. The Elector of Saxony was
to carry his army by Prague, or even to Vienna itself,
which it was thought might, in the first terror of sur-
prise, open its gates. Gustavus had no great expecta-
tions that Arnheim, of whose military talents the battle
of Leipzig had afforded but equivocal proof, would suc-
ceed in this bold design ; and he himself considered
that more solid advantages to the cause might be
obtained from an incursion into the territories of the
Princes of the Catholic League. He accordingly chose
the alternative for himself to lead his victorious army
to the Rhine. At this very conjuncture it happened
that the German Princes were assembled in a Diet at
Frankfort-on-the-Maine, to deliberate upon the " Edict
of Restitution ;" and the King thought that his ap-
pearance in arms might attract the discontented Princes
to his side, or that the terror of his approach might
paralyze the nerves of the Imperial power. Here,
in the centre of Germany, or upon the confines
of France, he might cultivate the friendship of the
Roman Catholic Electors, or watch the movements of
a rather suspicious ally, whose cordiality amid the
shifting phases of the war could never be surely pre-
dicated. Cardinal Richelieu ever weaved a web that
none of Ins contemporaries could unravel. The Dukes
of Brunswick and Lunenburg, as well as the Prince
of Anhalt, readily espoused the cause of the King of
Sweden, and promised their influence, and to contribute
towards the expenses of the war. The King of Poland
and the King of Denmark, whatever might be their
cordiality, offered their incense of congratulation to the
triumphant hero. The King sent Chemnitz into the
circle of Suabia, to sound the princes in those parts,
who acquitted himself very successfully in this embassy,
by bringing them also to his standard.
Ten days after the battle of Leipzig Gustavus
reached Erfurt, where the magistrates told him that
His Majesty was welcome, but begged to be excused
GIJSTAVTJS ADOLPHTTS. 175
admitting a garrison. The King's reply was, " that it
was not his custom to call strangers to be his guards,
and to place himself in a situation to receive laws from
other men ;" and he forthwith ordered Duke "William
of Saxe Weimar to take possession of the city. He
then sent back to the camp at Werben to desire his
Queen Eleonora to come forward as far as this city,
while he himself proceeded to the reduction of Fran-
conia. The Swedish army then proceeded to cross the
Thuringian forest in two columnsby Gotha and Arnstadt.
The difficulty of carrying the artillery and carriages
through this dangerous defile was sufficient to have
dismayed any general less enterprising than Gustavus
Adolphus. Konigshofen Schweinfurt, and soon after-
wards Wurzburg, yielded up their keys to him, and the
Roman Catholic Bishop of the latter place, who was a
leading member of the League, hastened to get out of
the way of the anger of the Protestant King. The
Bishop of Bamberg promised to contribute to the King
the same contingent he paid the army of the League ;
but as soon as Tilly came again upon the scene he fell
away, and renounced all his obligations. The Swedes
were obliged to carry Marienberg by storm, for a great
part of the wealth of the diocese was here deposited, as
well as the money which the Elector of Bavaria had
sent to Tilly for the purpose of enabling him to restore
his shattered army. The city was easily captured, and
corn and other provisions, with great store of wine,
fell into the hands of the Swedish army. Information
was given to the commissaries of an unexpected hiding-
place. A coffin well filled with ducats was about to
be removed into safe custody, when the bottom gave
way with the weight. The soldiers, not respecting the
King's presence, began to pick these up as they rolled
on the floor, to convert them to their own use. " Oh,
I see how it is," said the King ; " it is plain they must
have it : let the rogues convert them to their own
17G OTJSTAYTS ADOLPTHTS.
use ;" for he saw that it was quite impossible to pre-
vent it.
The Count ^'liilo Gustavus ordered Marienberg to be invested,
of Hanau Ti\\j, who had by this time collected out of the Pala-
tavus. tinate a new army, came back as far as Fulda. From
his camp here he now requested the Duke of Bavaria's
permission to give battle to Gustavus ; but as the
League had at this moment no second army to fall
back upon if he should suffer another defeat, Maxi-
milian therefore was too cautious to risk the fate
of a second battle, however much Tilly might burn
with impatience to wipe out the stain of the first.
Commanded therefore to avoid a battle, Tilly con-
tented himself with marching round to save the
few towns that had yet resisted the impetuosity of
the Swedes. The King took scarcely more time to
conquer Franconia than he would have required to
cross it. He therefore now left Gustavus Horn to
guard his conquests, and hastened towards the Ehine
with his whole army. Following the course of the
Maine, he reduced to subjection, in the course of his
march, Seligenstadt, Aschaffenburg, and the whole ter-
ritory on both sides of the river. The Imperial garri-
sons seldom awaited his approach to yield up their
keys, and never attempted resistance. One of his
subordinates was fortunate enough to capture by sur-
prise the town and citadel of Hanau, for whose preser-
vation Tilly had shown great anxiety, for he knew how
lightly Imperial fidelity sat upon its prince. The
Count of Hanau gladly placed himself at once under
the orders of the King of Sweden ; and he, being no
inconsiderable member of the Protestant Union, made
over all his passes and fortresses to the Confederate
cause, and agreed to pay a contingent of £2500 a
month during the continuance of the war, and to recall
all his retainers then serving under the Emperor.
Frankfort Gustavus now turned his whole attention to Frank-
surrenders.
GFSTAVTJ3 ADOLPHTTS. 177
fort-on-the-Maine. He marched forward till lie reached
Offenbach, at no great distance from the free city, from
whence he sent the Count de Solanes to negotiate his
admission. Willingly would the magistrates have dis-
pensed with the necessity of choosing between the King
of Sweden and the Kaiser ; for, whatever party they
might embrace, there was always reason to apprehend
injury to their privileges and trade. The Imperial ven-
geance would assuredly fall heavily upon them if they
hastily submitted to the King : and still more ruinous
would it be for them to incur the displeasure of an irre-
sistible conqueror at their very gate. They therefore
entreated Gustavus to consider their legitimate oaths to
the Emperor, and to leave their town in a state of neu-
trality, on account of their annual fairs, which were
the chief means of their commercial existence. The
King, in reply, expressed his astonishment that, when
the liberties of Germany were at stake, and the Pro-
testant religion in jeopardy, they should convey to his
ears such an odious sentiment as neutrality ; and that
the citizens of Frankfort shoidd talk of annual fairs, as
if they regarded all things merely as tradesmen and
merchants, rather than as men of the world with a
Christian conscience. He added, in a more menacing
tone, " that he had found the keys of many a town and
fortress from the Isle of Kugen on the Baltic to the
banks of the Maine, and knew well where to find a key
to Frankfort." The inhabitants, alarmed at his threat,
then interceded for time to consult the Elector of
Mayence, their ecclesiastical sovereign. But the King
answered that, being himself master of Aschaffenburg,
there was no other Elector of Mayence than Gustavus,
and that they must rely upon his power for plenary
absolution. " The inhabitants," he said, " might desire
only to stretch out their little finger to him, but he
would be content with nothing but the whole hand,
that he might have sufficient to grasp." When the
deputies retired from his presence with this answer, he
N
17s
.,1 vH\ I S AUDI. I'll I 8.
Gustavus
lays siege
to May-
ence, and
compels
Tilly to
raise the
Biege of
Nurem-
berg.
put liis whole army in motion and followed them in
older of battle to Saxcnhausen, a pleasing and elegant
suburb of the city ; and here the magistrates succumbed
to him, and, after taking an oath of fidelity, they opened
their gates to the Swedes. It had been an ancient
saying in Germany, " that he who possesses Frankfort
a year and a day is master of the empire." The King,
therefore, deemed it politic to make a public and solemn
entry into the free city. The army marched in admi-
rable order, with him in front of it riding on horseback,
having his head uncovered, to show his respect to the
Imperial city, preceded by fifty-six pieces of artillery,
out of respect to his army. The entire body of troops
did not number less than 14,000 men. The magistracy
conducted him to the Imperial palace of Braunfels,
where he sat down to a grand dinner, in the famous
hall in which the Emperor banquets at his coronation.
His manner was most courteous and affable, but he
hated flattery ; and when some of the burghers affected
extreme submission, and spoke in a style of idle com-
pliment, he would desire them to reserve that sort of
discourse for Her Majesty and her maids of honour.
His own beautiful Queen Eleonora, whom he had left
at the camp at Werben, and who had since passed
much tedious time at Berlin and Erfurt, while Gus-
tavus was in the midst of danger and the battle-field,
now came up to share her husband's triumph at Frank-
fort ; and, in her delight at seeing her hero safe again,
threw her arms around him, while she exclaimed,
" Now is Gustavus the Great become my prisoner !"
But while the Swedish King was thus extending his
conquests, fortune was also seconding the efforts of his
generals and allies in other parts of Germany. The
Landgrave William of Hesse Cassel, whose victorious
arms had struck with terror the greater part of West-
phalia and Lower Saxony, and who had forcibly taken
possession of the Palatinate, the Bishopric of Fulda,
and the Electorate of Cologne, now brought up all the
GUSTATrS ADOLPHFS. 170
troops he could spare, about 6000 foot and 3000 horse,
to assist Gustavus in his contemplated design of pass-
ing across the Rhine. On the very day of his entry
into Frankfort the King invested the strong town of
Hoechst, which surrendered to him the next day. His
Majesty then marched directly to Mayence ; and, having
made himself master of all the boats upon the Khine
and Maine, he prepared at Hoechst the means of carry-
ing his troops across the former river, while he took
steps to get possession of the electoral capital. Bishop
Anselm Casimir was, of course, an important member
of the League, and a devoted partisan of the Emperor ;
but he was a Prince of energy and foresight, and, sen-
sible that he could expect little mercy from the Kino-,
he had ordered the fortifications of the city to be re-
paired with all diligence, and received as a garrison
2000 Spaniards, under Don Philip de Sylvan ; then
carrying off all his most precious effects, he emitted
Mayence to visit his brother at Cologne. These vigor-
ous preparations to sustain a siege did not, however,
prevent the King from undertaking it. The city was
invested in the midst of as severe a winter as had ever
been known. One body of troops poured into the
Rheingau, from whence they expelled what Spanish
troops they found there : the main army encamped at
Cassel ; and Gustavus was taking active measures to
blockade the town on the opposite side of the Rhine,
when he received intelligence that Nuremberg was
hard pressed by Tilly. The Imperial General had sat
down before that place especially to draw Gustavus
away from the Rhine ; and, lest he should expose him-
self a second time to the reproaches of Germany for
abandoning a confederate city to a ferocious enemy,
Gustavus resolved to hasten to its relief by forced
marches. The inhabitants had, however, raised a little
army for its relief, of which they had given the com-
mand to the Count de Solmes, as Governor on behalf
of the King ; and these had made so spirited a re-
N 2
180 GTJSTATUS ADOLPIIUS.
sistancc, that Tilly was compelled to draw off his army
to place them in winter-quarters : on hearing which
tin1 King did not lose a moment in stopping the march
of his troops, and prosecuting his designs against
Mayence. While then he advanced his approaches on
the left bank of the Rhine, the Landgrave moved for-
ward his on the right. The besieged Spaniards, though
hemmed in on both sides, displayed at first a bold
determination to resist. But, nevertheless, the Swedes
continually gained ground, and had at last advanced so
close to the ditch that they were preparing to storm
the place. To save the town from all the horrors of an
assault, and the known spirit of retaliation for the
carnage of Magdeburg, which was rife in every Pro-
testant bosom, the Spanish garrison capitulated on the
fourth day, and obtained favourable terms from the
magnanimity of Gustavus s.
Gustavua Next day, which was the 14th of December, on
holds jus which the King completed his thirty-seventh year, His
at May- Majesty made his entry into the conquered town in
ence : his great pomp, and fixed his quarters in the palace of
oTforeigii the Elector : and on the Friday ensuing he ordered a
princes and further service of thanksgiving for his success in the
ambassa- Roman Catholic cathedral. Great stores of provision
were found in Mayence, besides 80 pieces of artillery,
and GOO quintals of gunpowder. The citizens were
required to pay 80,000 florins (about £8000) for the
redemption of their property from pillage, by the capi-
tulation. The library of the Elector was seized by the
King as his personal share, and bestowed on Oxen-
stierna, who intended it for one of the Swedish universi-
ties ; but it was unfortunately lost in crossing the Baltic.
The King had protracted the campaign into the depth
of winter ; and the severity of the season was, perhaps,
one cause why the Swedish soldiers so speedily tired
out those of Spain. But the exhausted troops now
stood in need of the repose of winter-quarters, which
s Schiller.
OTTSTAVUS ADOLPnua. 181
were accordingly assigned to them in the pleasant
vicinity of Mayence. The Queen arrived at the palace
on the 10th of January, and Gustavus now for the
first time in his career opened all the splendour of a
magnificent court, which was rendered more brilliant
by the presence of five German princes, who came to
confer with him ; and twelve or thirteen foreign Am-
bassadors, who came, all of them entrusted with trans-
actions of great importance, to treat with him. Among
the first was the unfortunate King of Bohemia ; and
among the last the English ministers, Sir Eobert
Anstruther and Sir Harry Vane, who came to bring the
little aid that they were likely to render on behalf of
England, for that unhappy monarch's restoration to
his dominions. The King showed him the unpro-
fitable honour of greeting him as a crowned head,
and endeavoured by his generous sympathy to soften
the sense of his misfortunes ; but nothing more could
be obtained from the influential mediation of the con-
queror. The inactivity and contradictoiy politics of
the English Court had rendered Sweden cold towards
its representations, and had forfeited the esteem of
Gustavus Adolphus in the affairs of the discrowned
Frederick. The King had, however, other business of
equal or greater importance to settle in this interval
of rest with his Chancellor on home affairs, and with
the Ambassadors in treaty for the neutrality of some
of his enemies, and for adjusting political disputes with
his allies.
Amongst others who were at Mayence at this June- LouisXIH.
ture was the Marquis de Breze, brother-in-law off. , "
1 lieu become
Richelieu, and Ambassador Extraordinary from the jealous
French King. Louis XIII. had been alarmed, in the of tlie .
depth of his bigotry, by the insinuations of the Catholic flut,nce 0f
princes of the Empire, that Gustavus had determined Gustavus.
on the extirpation of the Romish Religion. France
had, indeed, many reasons for endeavouring to check
the progress of Gustavus. It was one thing to see
182
<;i MA\ l S ADOUMII
the Emperor humbled, but it was quite another to see
him destroyed. Now the passage of the Rhine, of
which France was jealous beyond measure, was consi-
dered a symptom of very ambitious pretensions on the
part of Gustavus Adolphus, at which even Richelieu
grew alarmed ; and from this time he conceived not
only a disinclination to the Swedish cause, but a mortal
jealousy of their King. "Means must be devised," he
said, " to check this impetuous Visigoth, since his suc-
cesses will be as fatal to France as to the Emperor."
France was at this very moment involved in a civil
war with her own Protestant subjects ; and the fear
was not altogether groundless, that the approach of a
victorious Monarch of their party might revive the
drooping spirit of the remonstrant Huguenots, and
encourage them to a more determined resistance.
LouisXIII. It is difficult, if not impossible, to unravel all the
^vatc* * mtr*»ues °f tne great Cardinal, which De Breze was
conference directed to carry out ; but Gustavus was not at all
with Gus- pleased at Richelieu's duplicity ; and, mistrusting it,
signified to Louis XIII. , that he desired a private
conference with His Majesty. The French King,
naturally timid, trembled at the thought of meeting
Gustavus Adolphus, who talked several languages,
and whose remarkable genius had made him as
formidable in the cabinet as in the field. De Breze
tried to persuade the Swedish King to content himself
with a conference with the Cardinal. But Gustavus
replied, with hauteur, " All Kings are equal. My pre-
decessors have never given place to the Kings of
France. If your master thinks fit to despatch the Car-
dinal half-way, I will send some of my people to treat
with him so far ; but I will admit of no superiority."
The endeavours on the part of the diplomatists to bring
about a general truce betwixt the Protestants and
Catholics having failed, an armistice for fourteen days
was proposed to the King, to which he consented. But
Pappenheim paid no attention to the cessation of arms,
GUSTATUS ADOLPHrS. 183
and the Spaniards, equally unmindful of it, crossed the
Moselle, and entered the Palatinate. Tilly was allowed
by the Sovereign Duke to take possession of the Castle
of Neuburg ; and an intercepted letter from the Elector
Maximilian to Pappenheim advised the King that that
artful prince was employing the leisure thus afforded
him in preparing the most determined dispositions for
resistance.
About the beginning of February, the King and Gustavus
Queen quitted Mayence, and returned to Frankfort. !!?
^ u -i • -i • • Queen re-
Gustavus had evinced a great partiality for the elec- turn to
toral city as a residence, and had added considerably to Frankfort,
the strength of its fortifications. He had caused a new
citadel to be erected at the confluence of the Rhine and
the Maine, which was called at the first " Gustavus-
burg," but which was subsequently known by the
name of " Pfaffenraube," or " Pfaffenzeug " (priest-
plunder), in allusion to the means derived for its con-
struction. There was also erected on a spot not far
from Mayence a lion of marble on a high pillar, holding
a naked sword in his paw, and having a helmet on his
head, to mark the spot where the great " Lion of the
North " crossed the great river of Germany.
Pending the negotiations above mentioned, the Capture of
King's generals had been continually engaged with "T1*2',
the Spanish troops, who had advanced to the Rhine ; xibn.
and by the middle of February His Majesty himself
opened the campaign with the siege of Kreutznach, in
the Palatinate— one of the strongest castles in point of
situation to be found in Germany. The strength of
the fort greatly surprised Gustavus when he contem-
plated it, and he very anxiously reconnoitred it. At
length, bavins' resolved on his mode of attack, he re-
turned to his army with the cheerful remark, " Now, I
will be master of yonder castle by five o'clock to-morrow
evening." He determined to proceed by mines, which
opened a small but very deep entrance in the walls,
which were difficult of ascent. A general storm was
184 (iUSTAVTTS ADOLPUUS.
nevertheless ordered, and volunteers were called for
the assault, among whom were several English. The
young Lord Craven, Lieut. -Colonel Talhot, and Mr.
Markam led the van, under the immediate eye of the
King. In the first attempt they were repulsed, and
Gustavus lost his temper ; hut going up to Lord Craven
he patted him on the shoulder, and hid him return to the
attack, which the young lord did unhesitatingly, though
he received a severe wound ; Talhot was killed next
to him, and Sir Francis Vane, brother to the Earl of
Westmoreland, and Markam were also severely wounded.
The place, however, was taken ; and Alexander Eamsay,
and subsequently George Douglas, both gallant Scotch-
men, were constituted governors. About the same time,
the important town of Ulm was taken ; and Sir Patrick
Ruthven0, another Scot, was appointed governor of
that town. These North Britons were always greatly
in the affection and confidence of Gustavus Adolphus.
Gustavus The Chancellor Oxenstierna was now left with a
invades _ division of the army to protect the Swedish conquests
h riiiicoiiiti * . ■*■
the siege of a^out the Middle Rhine, and the King himself began
Donau- his march against the enemy in Franconia on the 4th
March, 1632. The forces about to take part in the
new campaign were upon a grander scale than former^.
Gustavus and his allies had 100,000 infantry, and
6 Gustavus on several occasions testified to the supreme neces-
sity of officers in command of troops having the full possession of
their energies ; and His Majesty never liked to have any general
on service turned of sixty years of age. Sir Patrick Ruthven, of
whom much is recorded in this biography, had now arrived at that
age, and he made him Governor of Ulm, to show how highly the
King valued him ; hut the post was a reputable sinecure. It is to
be hoped that at last our military authorities will keep the places
of trust at home and abroad, that do not require active habits,
for the deserving aged, and never give to the young the places
of ease which ought to be left for the rewards of the veteran.
The energy of the young man is especially required for the field ;
the experience of the old officer is best suited to garrisons and
home service.
werth.
GUSTAVITS ADOLPHUS. 185
40,000 cavalry under arms ; and the Catholic League
were preparing to bring into the field a much larger
number of forces. In spite of winter torrents and miry
roads, the King reached Aschaffenburg, near which
place he united himself with Gustavus Horn, Duke
William of Saxe Weimar, and Baner ; and with respect
to this force, which was greater in strength than the
army under Tilly, the Bavarian General awaited his
Sovereign's orders, as to whether he should bar the
march of the Swedes into Bohemia, or into Bavaria.
Maximilian directed him to cover at all hazards the
frontiers of his Electorate with his army ; and on this
resolution the King's choice depended. Donauwerth was
a place of first consequence to his future movements,
because it has always been deemed the key of admission
between Suabia and Bavaria. Tilly had employed
himself in increasing its works of defence ; and it was
at this time garrisoned by 1200 men, under the Duke
of Saxe Lauenberg. To the surprise both of the
general and governor, the King set himself down before
it. The Governor on being summoned replied, " that
the King knew better than any man the duty of those
who had nothing to rely on but honour and the sword,
and therefore he could pay him no tribute except in
gunpowder." On this, Gustavus raised his batteries
and directed his storming parties, when Saxe Lauen-
berg resolved to attempt an escape, which he accom-
plished with the loss of 500 men ; and in forty-eight
hours the town was taken and occupied. By the cap-
ture of Donauwerth, which secured a free passage over
the Danube, Tilly perceived His Swedish Majesty's
real intentions to be against Bavaria ; accordingly,
with all possible expedition, he broke down the bridge
that crosses that river between Neuburg and Bain, and
also destroyed all the bridges over the Lech ; for that
small river now alone separated the Swedes from Ba-
varia. Maximilian, therefore, concerted with his General
in what manner he could most effectually prevent the
ISO 01 STATUS ADOLlMIl 3
King from entering his Electorate. Tilly, foreseeing
probably where His Majesty would make the grand
attempt, cantoned his army in lesser and greater
divisions all along the Bavarian side of the Lech and
the Aach, from Rain to Augsburg, which last town he
secured by a strong and trustworthy garrison. There
are few rivers of the size whose passage is so difficult
as that of the Lech. lb is a stream that takes its rise in
the mountains of the Grisons ; and already, in the month
of April, the snows melting near its source render the
current more of the nature of a torrent than an ordinary
river. It is about forty yards wide between Rain and
Thierhaupten, and the bank, on what may be for the
moment termed the Swedish side, is about eleven feet
higher than the opposite bank, where the ground is
for the most pai't a morass, knee-deep, or covered with
thick beds of osiers.
Gustavus, as soon as he reached the river, carefully
reconnoitred its approaches with the officers of his
staff; and, seeing how "the old corporal" (as His
Majesty was pleased to designate his antagonist) had
erected his batteries, his advisers, who were for the
most part men grown grey in war, did not hesitate to
counsel caution ; because, from the torrent-like rapidity
of the stream, it was scarcely possible to lay pontoon
bridges with any prospect of success. " What," re-
plied the King to Gustavus Horn, who spoke for the
rest of the generals, " have we crossed the Baltic, and
so many great rivers of Germany, and shall we now be
stopped by a brook like the Lech !" Gustavus felt that
now was the opportunity to display his genius and the
resources that he had acquired in the practice of war.
The two first difficulties he had to encounter were — the
sort of bridge that would stand the current, and the
illusions he could employ to conceal the laying of it from
the view of his enemy. He caused a set of strong trestles
to be prepared of various heights, and with unequal feet,
that might stand on the very uneven bottom of the
GtTSTAVUS ADOLPHL'S. 187
river, and he had strong piles driven down to secure
them in their places. The planks that were then laid
from the one to the other were well and strongly-
fastened with nails. He fixed the spot for placing this
intended bridge where the Lech makes an inward curve,
which afforded him, on his side of the river, the means
of bringing a cross fire to bear upon the opposite bank.
Here he set his men to work to raise batteries, in which
his great artillerist, General Leonard Torstenson, most
judiciously placed seventy -two field guns ; and from
these he furiously thundered on the Bavarian camp
without intermission during the whole time that he
was constructing his bridge. Tilly's camp was placed
beyond a little rivulet, where the ground rose to a
moderate hill, covered with shrubs and thorn-trees, on
which the troops stood with their artillery in position
somewhat concealed by a wood. About 1000 mus-
keteers lined the Swedish bank of the river, who at the
same time prevented any Imperial troops from creeping
down to reconnoitre ; and to prevent such as might do
so from seeing any thing. Little fires were kindled in
pits, which were constantly fed with smoky com-
bustibles, with pitch and green wood, and, while this
concealed the workmen from sight, the thunder of the
guns drowned the noise of the axes and hammers, &c.
Thursday morning, April the 5th, while the cannon- Capture of
balls tore every thing to pieces within 150 yards' Dona"-
distance, and the dark twilight added to the gloom of Tilly se-
the atmosphere, the King himself sent across the river verely
some picked engineers, pioneers, and soldiers, who, as W
soon as they had made a lodgment, threw up with
great expedition a breastwork ; then all hands were
set to work to fix the bridge in its place ; so that when
the morning was pretty well advanced, Tilly beheld the
passage already effected. To dislodge these intruders
was next to impossible, on account of the unceasing fire
of the Swedish batteries, which the Bavarian guns for
some hours endeavoured in vain to silence. The King.
188 OTTSTAYTTS ADOLPHUS.
in person, continued to stand at the foot of the bridge,
while this cannonade lasted for thirty-six hours ; during
which time Charles Gustavus Wrangel was passed across
the bridge, to support those who were already on the out-
work. Before this, Tilly had directed Aldringer to pass
between the osier-bed and the stream, at the head of a
body of cavalry, with orders to endeavour to drive away
the Swedes, and to get possession of the head of the
bridge if possible. These Imperialists penetrated thus
far, and made a desperate attempt to seize the bridge ;
but the musketeers who had been placed on the Swedish
bank to protect the construction of the bridge were
posted there, and opened such continual fire, that the
Imperialists were broken and crushed, and a second
attempt brought the brave Aldringer to the ground
with a mortal wound in the head. Tilly heard with
dismay of the death of his friend, and went down to
the river bank to do every thing in his power to replace
liim, and to encourage his troops. It was in the act
of leading a regiment forward with the colours in his
hand, that Tilly himself received a stroke on the knee
from a falconet-ball, which shattered the bone, and he
fell to the ground, swooning away several times from
the agony of the fracture. Deprived of the leading of
their aged General, the troops relaxed their efforts, and,
to augment the general consternation that ensued, two
considerable bodies of Finland horse — bold, daring
fellows — breasted the stream in several places, and
partly by swimming their horses, and partly by ford-
ing, while many succumbed in the effort, came like
men possessed upon the Bavarians, who gave way
on every side. The King, knowing nothing of Tilly's
misfortune, remained at the bridge foot, and contented
himself towards evening with marching over it at the
head of his guards, and passing the night on the
Bavarian side of the Lech. Next morning word was
brought His Majesty that there was reason to think
the enemy were gone j and accordingly he sent
GUSTAYTTS ADOLPnUS. 1S9
Hepburn with some infantry to obtain information.
Two prisoners, horse videttes, were taken, and were
brought in to the King, who immediately ordered
the troops to pursue the fugitive army to the walls of
Rain, and to storm that town sword in hand if they
should be resisted. It was at this moment that His
Majesty was first informed that Tilly was desperately,
if not mortally, wounded.
Bavaria now lay exposed to the victor ; but before Augsburg-
he proceeded to its occupation and conquest he resolved t^the ' ^
to secure Augsburg, Rain, Thierhausen, and Triedberg. Swedish
Accordingly, despatching Horn after Tilly's army, he arms*
shaped his own course to the first-named city, which was
rendered illustrious in the King's Protestant views by
its famous " Confession," and which he regarded with
especial veneration as the place " from whence the law
first proceeded from Sion." It is situated on the Lech,
about ten miles from Donauwerth, and was at this time
garrisoned by 4500 Imperialist troops, under Colonel
Breda. Torstenson immediately raised his batteries,
and gave new proofs of his uncommon skill in the
management of his artillery. But the sight of the
havoc which its fire made upon the fine edifices of
Augsburg grieved the King ; and he forthwith opened
a communication with the Governor, to which, after
some negotiation, that officer submitted, and yielded
up the town. On entering Augsburg, Gustavus walked
direct to St. Agnes' Church, where the Lutheran service
was performed with great decency ; and Fabricius, the
King's Chaplain, delivered a sermon on the text : —
" Now for the comfortless troubles' sake of the needy,
and because of the deep sighing of the poor, I will up,
saith the Lord, and will help every one that swelleth
against him, and will set him at rest."
Gustavus deemed that the possession of Ratisbon Gustavus
and Ingoldstadt was essential to his obtaining a firm ^2 8ie£?
footing in the valley of the Danube, from whence he stadt,butis
might invade Bavaria. But Tilly, with his parting obliged to
190 ..I STATUS iDOLPHUS.
raise it. breath, had enjoined the Elector to spare no precautions
Death of for tjK, preservation of both these places ; and the routed
army had retired expressly to cover them. And indeed
the defeated General still lingered from his wounds
within the walls of Ingoldstadt. This town was con-
sidered one of the strongest places in the Empire, and
was one of those fortresses which warriors call Pucelle,
from its having never yielded up its virtue. The King
hoped to gain the place by the vigour of his first
assault, and by the aid of Torstenson's formidable
batteries, which were speedily erected and armed, and
were already prepared to open, when Gustavus, on his
flea-bitten charger, approaching near the walls to make
his observations (for his cool courage and short eye-
sightedness rendered this habitual with him), was
suddenly hit by a round shot, which struck the mare
in the flank, and rolled him over two or three times.
With perfect self-possession the King, when raised
from the ground by his staff, quieted the fears of his
troops by immediately mounting another horse, and
riding along their ranks. When he returned to his
tent in the evening, his generals all collected around
him to urge him to take more care of a life so valuable
to the cause. But he told them, " that he had a foolish
sort of a fancy, which always tempted him to imagine
that he could see better for himself than others did,"
and " that his sense of God's providence gave him the
firm assurance that He had other assistance in store for
so just a cause than the precarious existence of one
Gustavus Adolphus." His Majesty employed eight
days in beleaguering Ingoldstadt, which, in respect
to any of the sieges he had assisted in, was unusually
tedious service. He had, however, never invested the
place ; for on one side of it the whole Bavarian army,
under Maximilian, was in position. The King made a
wild attempt to get into a ravelin, which he himself
superintended ; and then suddenly he raised the siege \
i As soon as the siege was raised, the inhabitants dug up the
GUSTAVUS ADOT/PHUS. 191
and collecting his army, hastened with great despatch
towards Munich. While the siege was in progress,
Tilly expired. The news reached the King, who, as
was known, disliked him much on account of the atro-
cities he exercised at Magdeburg ; and had never for-
gotten that he had on one occasion offended his dignity
by addressing a remonstrance on some application to
him by the style of Cavalier, instead of King. Yet on
this occasion the generosity of his nature assumed the
ascendant. He no longer spoke of the " Old Walloon,"
and the " Old Corporal," but exclaimed, — " Alas ! then
the honourable old Tilly is now no more."
The approach of the great Protestant hero spread Capture of
dismav in a country where a man who did not believe Munich.
t» i i Gustavus
in the Pope s supremacy was a most unheard-of phe- establishes
nomenon. The leader of a host combined against tlie King pf
Rome was in their eyes an antichrist, and the army tue Ejec_
the brood of Satan. Woe to the unhappy Swedish tor'spalace.
soldier who fell into their hands ! All the horrors that
inventive hatred could devise were exercised upon the
victims, and the highways were already strewn with
then' mangled bodies. Gustavus could scarcely re-
strain his army from some fearful retaliation for
these atrocities ; but he would not sully the lustre
of his chivalrous character by a single act of revenge.
The Bavarian capital was now open, stripped of all its
defenders, and of its principal inhabitants ; but when
they sent to implore the King's clemency, he answered,
" that if the magistracy submitted readily, and with a
good grace, care should be taken that no man should
suffer with respect to life, liberty, or religion." He
contented himself with a single act of triumph — that
of making a public entry into Munich, in company
with the King of Bohemia, whom he placed with much
pomp in the palace of the very Prince who had been
King's palfrey, which they found buried near his tent, and having
carefully stuffed it, deposited it, as a trophy, in the arsenal of
Ingoldstadt, where it still remains.
192
OrSTATrS ADOLPnUS.
Singular
discovery
of hidden
treasure.
the chief instrument of his ruin8. Having taken up
his residence, with Frederick, in the electoral palace, he
ordered the Protestant service to be performed in the
Popish chapel of that edifice, and a sermon to be
preached in it by his Chaplain. The palace was a very
handsome structure, adorned with pictures by the great
Flemish and Italian masters. "When his officers would
have persuaded His Majesty to plunder or destroy these
treasures of art, he replied, " Let us not imitate our
ancestors, the Goths and Vandals, who destroyed every
thing
belonging to the fine arts by their excesses
which has left our nation a proverb and a by-word of
contempt with posterity for acts of this wanton bar-
barity." The dethroned King's palace at Heidelberg
had indeed been shamefully rifled of all its treasures ;
but no retaliatory plunder was committed by Frederick,
who did not touch a single cabinet, bronze, or picture.
We may remember that our Charles I., in his cor-
respondence with the Swedish Chancellor, had an eye
to obtaining a tithe of these fine things ; but the stern
morality of Gustavus, and the nobleness of his temper,
would not permit him to use the opportunity of un-
dignified thieving. Perhaps he might have laid his
hand upon some of the secreted manuscripts, which
Maximilian had filched from the library at Heidelberg;
but if he had found them, he would have restored them
to Frederick.
It was a cause of much surprise to the King, to
observe that in the Electoral arsenal there were many
cannon carriages, but no guns ; and yet it had been
spoken of as the best supplied arsenal of any in Ger-
many. At length, on some information obtained from
a workman, he set himself (as he said) " to unbury the
dead." The pavement was broken up at a spot where
8 One single act of bad taste is said to have accompanied this
public ovation : — a monkey, with a shaven crown, and in a capu-
chin's dress, with a rosary in his paws, accompanied the procession.
This was almost too paltry a revenge to be insulting.
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 193
no marks of concealment were visible, and there 140
pieces of cannon were discovered ! " Eise up from
the dead, and come to judgment," said Gustavus ;
but when they were examined, one that was called
"the Sow," was found to have within it a cartridge
that contained 15,000 golden ducats, which the King
immediately placed in his military chest. Abundance of
regimentals was also discovered, with which he clothed
the larger part of his army. The plate, jewels, and other
valuables, which the Bavarian family had unscrupu-
lously acquired in the exactions of twelve years from
half the Protestant princes of Germany, could not be
discovered ; and it was believed that they had been
removed to Salzburg, whither the Queen of Bavaria
had retired with Duke Albert, her brother. Gustavus
appointed his Scotch friend Hepburn Governor of
Munich, while he himself went forth to pursue his
perilous but glorious career against his enemies in
arms.
But while Gustavus Adolphus is yet enjoying his
triumph at Munich, we may relate an anecdote that
exemplifies the slight infirmity of temper which at times
cast its shade upon the magnanimity of our hero.
There never yet was one of the sort, naval or military,
who has not been occasionally subject, when in com-
mand, to a hasty outbreak or two. He once apo-
logized for it to his generals, and told them "that
they must bear with his infirmities, as he had to
bear with theirs." One Douglas, a Scot, who had
transported a company of Scottish infantry into
Sweden in the year 1623, had been for his bravery
and good conduct advanced to be a Lieutenant-Colonel.
On one occasion he was induced in a thoughtless
moment to address a memorial to the King, in which
were some unguarded expressions that provoked Gus-
tavus to place him under arrest ; but afterwards he
released him without question. Douglas went to
Oxenstierna, protesting he had received an affront,
o
19-4
OUSTAVLS ABOLPH1 9
which lie would not bear from any one whatever,
and, on his failing to get redress from the Chan-
cellor, he made his way to the King himself. Hear-
ing that His Majesty was in a public tennis-court
playing a game with the King of Bohemia, he abruptly
presented himself before him, without notice or per-
mission, solicited or granted. Gustavus, indignant at
this want of respect and good breeding, said, " "\\ by,
sir, are you not at your post of command ? " " Sire,"
was the reply, " I have none." "None? who then is
Governor of Kreutznach ? " "I have resigned the
post." " Resigned ! who has permitted you to resign
it ? " At once understanding the subterfuge, he turned
to his staff and said, " Let this officer be committed to
prison." On the 16th of May, just as the King was
proceeding to his carriage to quit Munich, Harry Yane,
the British Ambassador, met His Majesty in the great
saloon of the palace, and asked for the release of
Douglas. " By heaven ! " replied the King, " if you
speak another syllable on the subject of that man, I will
order him to be hanged." " I hope your Majesty will
never commit such an action." " And why so ? "
" Your Majesty may say at Munich what you please,
but will never persist in such an opinion after mature
reflection." " Bo not tempt me into a passion ! The
man sought to quit my service after I had released
him from arrest ; which was not only an affront, but a
contravention of my military edicts. I now release
him on your parole, but vail not be affronted a second
time." " Adieu, sire." " By heavens, the fellow is a
rascal, and I do not choose to be served by such sort
of animals." " May it please your Majesty, I have
always understood that the subjects of the King my
master have rendered you the most excellent and
faithful services." "Yes, I acknowledge the people
of your nation have served me well, and far better than
any others. But this dog, concerning whom we are
talking, has affronted me, and I am resolved to chas-
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 195
tise him." Gustavus then reflected, and after a short
delay added, " Sir, I request you not to take ex-
ception at what has dropped from me: it was the
effect of a warm and hasty temper. I am now cool
again, and beseech you to pardon me9."
Another anecdote is recorded of the King regarding
likewise a Scotch officer, whom Gustavus had offended by
giving him a slap in the face. Colonel Seton demanded
his instant dismission from the King's service, and ob-
tained it. But he had not gone far on his way towards
Denmark, when His Majesty followed him on horse-
back, and overtook him. " Seton," he said, " I see
you are greatly offended with me ; and I am sorry for
what I did in haste. I have a high regard for you, and
have followed you expressly to offer you all the satisfac-
tion due to a brother officer. Here are two swords, and
two pistols ; choose which weapon you please, and you
shall avenge yourself against me." It is hardly neces-
sary to add, that Seton threw himself at the feet of the
King, declared his attachment and devotion to him,
and accompanied Gustavus back to the army. These
quarrels with his Scotch followers were, indeed, not
unfrequent. Even Hepburn had at one time nearly
quitted the King's service, and haughtily declared to
him, " that he would never more unsheath his sword
in the Swedish quarrel." But the attractive monarch
knew " that when he chose, he could whistle him
back;" and we have seen, he was not only still in the
service, but at this very moment Governor of Munich.
While the King was in Bavaria, his old rival and
kinsman Sigismund died of apoplexy, and as the throne
of Poland was always a subject of contention, there
was some uncertainty whether the son Uladislaus would
succeed his father, and some doubted whether Gus-
tavus might not have had an eye to the succession
himself ; but His Swedish Majesty had now obtained a
view of much higher prizes of fortune than a Polish
9 Harte.
O 2
19G GTTSTAYUS ADOLPHUS.
crown, so that the son was elected a few months after
the death of Sigismund without opposition. In one
of the affairs that now took place with the Impe-
rialists, Leonard Torstenson, the famous artillerist, Avas
taken prisoner by some Croatians ; hut "Wallenstein,
who had attained the summit of his generosity and
magnificence, paid the ransom to the captors out of
his own purse, and restored this much -valued officer to
Gustavus without delay, who accepted the compliment,
but, as will be seen in the sequel, had no great love for
the donor.
Gustavus had thus far advanced from victory to vic-
tory— an uninterrupted career of concpiest had con-
ducted him to the very threshold of the Emperor's
hereditary dominions. " The deceitful goddess" had,
it is thought, already whispered in his ears that Caesar's
crown was elective, and if he had not succeeded to his
wish in establishing a Confederacy amongst the Pro-
testant States, he had, at least, weakened and shat-
tered the Catholic League. He had carried on the war
chiefly at its expense, and had diminished, in conse-
quence, the resources of the Emperor, while he had
emboldened the weaker States, and gained the friend-
ship of the free cities. By the success of his arms,
and the prestige of his name, he had driven the
Spaniards out of the Lower Palatinate, and provided
for them work enough to occupy them in the dis-
tant Netherlands war, so as not to leave them at
liberty to interfere again in the affairs of Germany.
The possession of a part of Bavaria and Suabia and
of the Archbishopric of Mayence effectually covered his
rear in a military point of view; and the Duke of
Lorraine had been driven to adopt a neutrality. Even
the numerous garrisons he had been obliged to leave
behind him had not diminished the amount of his dis-
posable forces, for with every success he had drawn
fresh numbers to his standard from the ranks of his
adversary. Without one enemy able to cope with him
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 197
in front, and in the occupation of the entire west of
Germany, he now stood in the capital of Bavaria,
determined and prepared to carry the war against the
Kaiser himself10. The successes of Gustavus naturally
enough threw Ferdinand into the utmost consterna-
tion. The Emperor hegan to lower his tone, and
was even willing to bestow the appellation of King on
Gustavus, which he had always refused to do until he
now trembled for his capital. Tilly's death had de-
prived him of his best general ; for Wallenstein, dis-
missed and disgraced, was yet at his estates in Mo-
ravia ; but thoughts were already entertained of re-
storing the discarded General, who appeared not un-
willing to be won. It has been thought that Gustavus
Adolphus at Munich wasted his time, like Hannibal
at Capua, when he might have heralded his victorious
army to " Eome." But it is probable that the King
had well reflected that although he might succeed in
effecting a raid upon the Imperial capital, he could
not, under the circumstances of his position, make
himself yet awhile master of the Empire. For,
although the army of the King of Saxony occupied
Bohemia, and thus could advance with his own army
left in front, yet the hereditary estates were vast, and
few were at all in the hands of the Protestant Union
now, and the dying injunction of Tilly would still leave
Maximilian in his rear a clieval upon the Danube in
a position of the greatest peril against even a victorious
army, if it should meet with the slightest reverse.
The intelligence of the marvellous success of Gus- Wallen-
tavus Adolphus had of course reached the ears of Wal- s*"n ™?kes
lenstein, who contemplated from a calm distance the proposals
brightening sky of his greatness and his fortunes as a to Gusta-
necessary consequence. He considered that it was, in
fact, for him that the King of Sweden was labouring,
for his success gave him power to hope again ; accord-
ingly he despatched the banished Count Thurn, who
10 Schiller.
198 m btavtts adolpiu s.
had long since entered the service of Sweden, to convey
the congratulations of the Duke of Friedland to the
King, and to invite His Majesty to a close alliance
with him. He undertook, in concert with the Swedes,
to conquer Bohemia and Moravia, to surprise Vienna,
and to drive the Emperor out of Germany. Such
extravagant promises, as they appeared to Gustavus,
excited his suspicions ; and the prudent monarch hesi-
tated to trust his reputation to the chimerical projects
of such a daring adventurer, who felt no shame in
openly avowing himself a traitor. The King therefore
declined the offer of the greatest of the Imperial
Generals, perhaps from an excess of caution, and such
an opportunity was lost as might have availed for
putting a speedy end to the war. The assistance that
might have heen given by Wallenstein to Gustavus
Adolphus was now transferred to the Emperor Ferdi-
nand. The rumour soon spread that the Duke of
Friedland had after much difficult persuasion been
won over by Ferdinand, and was actively engaged in
raising levies ; that he had already occupied Prague ; and
indeed, on the 25th of June, the Imperial General had
overrun Bohemia and driven Arnheim, with his Saxons,
out of that kingdom, whence, after some delays, he
returned to join Maximilian near Batisbon. The
combined Imperial and Bavarian armies in face of the
King already amounted to nearly 60,000 men, chiefly
veterans.
Gustavus Before this force Gustavus was not in a condition
takes up a fc0 keep the field. The position of the army between
sitioifat°' the frontiers of Saxony and Bavaria left it for some
Nurem- time doubtful whether the Imperialists would remove
e' the war into the former Electorate, or would endeavour
to drive the Swedes from the Danube, and deliver
Bavaria. The question for Gustavus was now, how
best to provide for his own security ; for the approach
of the enemy had surprised him before he had concen-
trated his troops, which were scattered all over Ger-
GTJSTAYUS ADOLPIIUS. 199
many. The prize was now no longer supremacy, but
existence. His fertile genius was therefore called upon
to concentrate all his means upon preservation, and to
withdraw his mind from conquest. Too weak to meet
the enemy in the field, he had no choice left hut to
withdraw out of Bavaria, and to form an intrenched
camp near Donauwerth or Nuremberg. He chose the
latter, and having recalled his troops from the pursuit
of Ossa, the Imperial Commissary (newly created
General), who had been driven to the very foot of the
Alps, the King, on the 17th of June, joined Duke Bern-
hard of Saxe Weimar at Furth, near to Nuremberg.
Measures were immediately taken to surround the
town and suburbs with redoubts. One-half of the
Swedish army performed the duty of pioneers day by
day alternately, assisted by a considerable number of
peasants as well as citizens. A ditch of circumvalla-
tion, twelve feet wide and eight feet deep, surrounded
a space estimated at 219 square acres in extent. Ad-
vantage was taken of the river Pegnitz to prepare
inundations and batteries, bastions, half-rnoons, and
every species of epaulement, and these works were
armed with 300 pieces of cannon. The troops were at
the same time scattered in every direction to collect
food and forage, with which to form extensive maga-
zines, and with such wonderful activity was this carried
on, that in a fortnight the great work was completed,
for Gustavus had from other quarters called in to his
assistance the divisions of the Duke William of Saxe
Weimar and the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, and had
ordered his generals on the Rhine, in Thuringia, and
Lower Saxony, to commence their march towards the
camp forthwith ; moreover, Oxenstierna, always atten-
tive as to the King's position and wants, was already on
his march towards Nuremberg with Swedish reinforce-
ments. The King's army, however, already encamped
within his lines did not exceed 10,000 men — scarcely
a third of the force of the enemy.
200
GUSTATUS ADOLPHUS.
Wallen- The Imperialists had in the mean time advanced by
stt'ni de- sjQW marches to Neumarkt, where Wallenstein indulged
attack the in a general review of the formidable force he was lead-
Swedish ing Up against the great Protestant hero. At sight of
this fine army, and with something of the neighing of
the old war-horse, he exclaimed, " In four days it shall
be shown whether I or the King of Sweden is to be
master of the world." As soon, however, as he came up
to the Swedish intrenchments, and had carefully recon-
noitred the position, he changed the resolution he had
formed on the road to assault them ; and, to the dis-
gust of his associate, the Elector of Bavaria, he said,
" Battles enough have been fought ; it is now time to
try some other method." Maximilian, who hated the
man and his presumptuous vanity, pressed him earnestly
to force the Swedish lines sword in hand. " Sir," said
Wallenstein, with a provoking air of phlegm and rude-
ness, "commence the attack with your whole army,
and I will support you with all my forces." This great
General's well-founded reputation did not require any of
those rash expedients which very commonly infest the
judgment of the weak and presumptuous, and Wallen-
stein abjured enterprises that men of mere brute courage
might adopt in default of knowing any better expedient
to give them a hope of gaining a name. He was satisfied
that such troops as the Swedes, when judiciously posted,
would sell dearly any victory that might be snatched
from them ; and, in the present condition of affairs, a
defeat must irretrievably ruin the Catholic cause. He
therefore " tried another method " — the campaign of
starving, and trusted to wear out the ardour of his royal
opponent by a tedious blockade. Accordingly, the Im-
perialist General began coolly to trace out a camp almost
within sight of the King, and not above three miles dis-
tant from the Swedish intrenchments. By the position
that he selected for his camp, he cut off" from the city
and camp of Gustavus all supplies out of Franconia,
Suabia, and Thuringia. The Imperial position covered
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 20]
a very large extent of ground ; but its trace was very-
slight and unsubstantial, consisting only of a small ditch,
protected by interlaced trees and branches, intermixed
with gabions, fascines, and barricades of various kinds.
Wallenstein, though a valiant soldier, was not regarded
as " a notable spade-man," and was neither a great
engineer nor an artilleryman ; but he was a wonderful
commissary and purveyor. Store-bread was the stand-
ing diet of a soldier in those times, and this necessary
of life could only be obtained, from a district so occupied
by entire armies, by somewhat rash enterprises, sword in
hand, for in the surrounding countiy the foraging parties
required a numerous escort ; so that there were sharp
skirmishes every hour of the day between the Croats and
the Swedish horse, to "pick up the crumbs;" and, as
the peasantry had for the most part fled away with all
their property, the supply soon failed altogether. Under
these circumstances provisions and ammunition had to
be obtained by the Imperial army from Vienna and
Munich, by way of Ratisbon. A large convoy out of
Bavaria had been signalled as being in march about the
20th of July, and a regiment of Swedish cavalry was
sent under cover of the darkness of night to look out
for it. It was opportunely met and encountered. The
Imperial escort was cut to pieces ; 1000 waggons, laden
with bread, were set on fire, and 12,000 cattle were
carried off. In returning from this " raid," the Swedish
cavalry met seven Imperial regiments moving down to
Altdorf in expectation of the convoy ; and these were
set upon and driven back to Wallenstein's camp, with
the loss of 400 men.
The two armies lay thus gazing on each other for Gustavus_
eight weeks, merely amusing themselves from time to sca«;ered
time with camisados ' and ambuscades and skirmishes, forces.
1 Camisado is a word that, having found its way into the
English dictionary, has been long out of use. It would seem
to designate more particularly a surprise by night, being derived
from camisa, a shirt.
202 GUSTAVUS ADOLPUTJS.
But on both sides infectious diseases, the natural con-
sequence of bad or insufficient food, and the muddy
waters of the Pegnitz, which supplied both camps,
occasioned as great a loss as many a battle. At length,
on the 17th of August, the King had notice of the
approach of the four little armies that he had ordered
to reinforce him. He despatched couriers to the several
generals, having subjoined to each letter a plan of their
respective routes, strictly enjoining vigilance and pre-
caution, lest an attempt should be made by the Impe-
rialists to prevent their junction. This was at length
effected satisfactorily on the 21st of August, when Gus-
tavus galloped out of his camp to Hcrtzog-Aurach,
where he paid them a visit, and the same day led
triumphantly within his intrenchments 50,000 hardy
veterans, all eager to come to blows with Wallenstein's
mercenaries. The first habitual act of the King on the
success of any of his dispositions was to set apart a
day of thanksgiving and prayer, and his next step was
to pay his soldiers all arrears. Both these duties were
executed with a regularity that was characteristic of
this hero.
General ac- Gustavus now saw himself at the head of 70,000 sol-
tion be- tHers, without reckoning the Nuremberg militia. But
tween Ous-
tavus and Wallenstein also had received reinforcements ; so that
Wallen- at least 120,000 men confronted each other, with
tenbers 50,000 horse, on the banks of the small river of the
Pegnitz. If, before the arrival of these reinforcements,
a want of provisions and much disease prevailed, the evil
was fearfully increased in both camps after the junction.
And these distresses, together with his numerical supe-
riority, at length determined the King to take the
initiative, and to march out of his own lines to attack
Wallenstein, in order to force him to raise his camp.
It was on the 22nd of August that the Swedish army
marched up to the enemy, and thundered with three
vast batteries of cannon upon the Imperial intrench-
ments. Wallenstein responded to this cannonade with
GUSTAYUS ADOLPHTJS. 203
an equal fire ; and this bombardment was undertaken,
discontinued, and resumed for two days. The Elector,
and the superior officers of the army, endeavoured by
remonstrance, and even ridicule, to rouse the Duke of
Friedland to force on a battle ; but he remained im-
movable, resolved to test the King's patience, and, if
possible, to tire out His Majesty by his inactivity. At
length, on the 25th, the increasing distress affected the
discipline and order of the Swedish camp to such a de-
gree that Gustavus resolved to storm his adversary's
stronghold. Entrusting the defence of his camp to the
militia of Nuremberg, he crossed the Rednitz below
Furth, easily driving the Imperialist outposts before
him, and advanced against the steep heights on which
was situated the old Castle of Altenberg. Here Wal-
lenstein had with much art immured himself behind
a threefold barrier of abattis and other obstacles. The
ascent was steep and craggy, and the forest of Alten-
berg, which was in the rear of the chateau, was spread
around over the hollows and inequalities of the ground.
The King advanced, sword in hand, at the head of the
attacking party, directing in person the order of the
attack. His object was to gain the summit of the
mountain — a task difficult by nature, but rendered
much more so by the intervention of art and the forest.
The conflict lasted for ten hours without intermission,
when, as the day began to decline, His Majesty, who
never left the front during the whole time, plainly per-
ceived that the slaughter would end in no success :
maintaining therefore the musketeers in front, he with-
drew the rest of his army by succession of divisions to
the plains below. One thousand mangled bodies covered
the field, many of which could not be removed. Both
Wallenstein and Duke Bernhard had horses killed under
them, and the King had the sole of his boot carried off
by a cannon-ball, without injury to himself or his horse.
The combat was continued with undiminished obstinacy >
till at length night put an end to the conflict.
201 GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.
It is related that, when at the close of the day the
King found that every Swedish regiment had been
engaged, and that he had none in reserve, he appealed
to the attachment of the Scotch contingent, who still
served in his army, under Colonel Hepburn. It appears,
as has been related, that a few days previously some sharp
discussion had taken place between him and the King,
when the contingent declared, one and all, that they
would never more unsheath their swords in the King's
quarrels, after his ungrateful conduct to them. But
now appealed to by Gustavus in a moment of extreme
danger, the whole regiment obeyed their leader's sum-
mons, and with great gallantry and resolution covered
the retreat of the army. But having done so, Hep-
burn respectfully informed the King that he and his
men adhered to their resolution to quit His Majesty's
service ; and they must have done so, for at the battle
of Lutzen neither the Marquis of Hamilton nor any of
the British volunteers will be found to have been
present in the ranks of the Confederate army.
The King passed a wet, cold, and tedious night ;
but His Majesty's first thoughts in the morning were
for the commanded musketeers, who had been left be-
hind to cover the retreat of the army, and who were
still lying in the front in face of Altenberg Castle.
Duke William of Weimar undertook to bring them off;
but Gustavus, impatient under their possible sacrifice,
resolved to see the deed done with his own eyes ; and,
following a regiment, he took the partisan courteously
out of a colonel's hands, and, performing the duty of a
regimental officer, brought back his men with composure
and resolution. Upon some one remarking, that this
act was beneath the dignity of a crowned head, he
replied, " It has ever been a maxim with me, that no
duty compatible with the honour of a simple officer
misbecomes the greatest commander."
(iustavus For nearly a fortnight after this affair at Altenberg
resolves to the two armies continued to confront each other : each
GTJSTAVTJS ADOLPHUS. 205
in the hope that the other would be the first to give defend Nu-
way. But as scarcity continued and increased, so did ?fm7,erF
the excesses of the soldiery, insomuch that all discipline extremity,
and order were broken up, to the great grief of Gus-
tavus. The best generals, as well as the common
soldiers, became cruel and rapacious, which hurt the
King's mind both as a Christian and a soldier, and,
sending for the generals and colonels, he addressed an
harangue to them upon these excesses in a style pecu-
liarly his own. Gustavus had lost by the casualties of
war and sickness nearly 20,000 of his soldiers. The
Duke of Friedland's army was at the same time
diminished by the sword, desertion, and famine, by as
many as 36,000. Affected by these conditions of the
contest, the King assembled the patricians of Nurem-
berg, and assuring them of the grief it caused him to
desert this faithful and affectionate city, proved to
them by sound military reasoning that "Wallenstein
could not attempt to besiege them ; but he promised
faithfully that if he did, he would march back in
person to their relief ; and in assurance of both pro-
mises he appointed Kniphausen with 4000 men to
defend Nuremberg to the last, upon his head, and
added, " I will leave my Chancellor, Oxenstierna, with
you as a pledge of my sincere intentions not to abandon
you in the time of any trouble."
On the 8th of September the King quitted his camp Gustavus
in full order of battle and in face of the enemy, but no "?vades
J ' Upper Aus-
attempt was made to disturb his march. His route tria.
lay along the banks of the Aisch to Neustadt and
Windsheim, where he halted five days. But Wallen-
stein rested motionless for a few days after the King's
departure, being as much exhausted, and tired of his
camp, as Gustavus ; but he also broke up from it on
the 12th, and set it on fire. His march was directed
down the Rednitz on Bamberg. The King thought
that, perhaps, the Imperialists proposed to themselves
to make some attempt on his late conquests in Fran-
20G .1 STATUS ADOLPIIUS.
conia, and accordingly he now divided his army,
and gave Duke Bernhard of Saxc Weimar 10,000 or
12,000 men, wherewith to dispute the passage of the
Maine, if necessary, against Wallenstein : and with the
remainder he undertook an expedition against Upper
Austria, which last was done upon the persuasion of
Oxenstierna, that the Emperor would he more tender
of one hereditary province than of all the other do-
minions of the German Princes.
Inglorious Gustavus accordingly marched his army to Donau-
sunrender werth, not without an ardent hope that he might have an
or Ram by . . r, °
Mitzval. opportunity of obtaining possession of Ingoldstadt. On
his march he heard that Montecucculi, with an Imperial
army, had invested Bain. The King had, however, left
in it a sufficient garrison, and had placed it in the
hands of Colonel Mitzval, with ample supplies of every
kind. He was an officer of long standing, and had served
with the King in his Polish wars ; and His Majesty was
therefore quite easy in respect to the fortress. He had
victuals, artillery, and ammunition in abundance ; and
had been commanded to strengthen the fortifications
by some new works, that had been ordered to be raised
before the King quitted Bavaria. Great, therefore,
was his astonishment when he received the news of
Mitzval's ignominious and mean-spirited capitulation.
It appears to have been a characteristic of Gustavus
Adolphus, as it was of Wellington in our day, that
when any contretems happened calculated to vex him,
or to disturb his operations, he immediately sat down
to consider of some expedient to recover himself, rather
than waste his thoughts on a mere unprofitable retro-
spect. He knew that there was a castle hard by that had
a bridge over the Lech ; and, having lost the bridge of
Rain, he made a hasty march to Obernsdorf, where he
found the Imperialists in the act of destroying the one
• at that place. On his approach the enemy fled, and he
soon restored the structure, and, passing his army over
it, marched immediately to Pain, where, knowing the
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHIJS.
207
weak point in the trace, he immediately made a bold
attempt at an escalade, and by this means got back
immediate possession of that fortress. From thence he
followed after Montecucculi, who had retired to Ratis-
bon, and on the 5th of October the Swedish army halted
at Neuburg on the Danube. The person of the unfor-
tunate Colonel Mitzval had been surrendered to him at
Rain, and His Majesty now resolved to make an example
of him, and to have him beheaded in presence of the
whole army. During the whole of his German service
no execution had been witnessed in the army of the
King of Sweden ; but he firmly resisted every appeal
that was now made upon his mercy for this chief delin-
quent, while he granted the pardon of some inferior
officers who were deemed to have been, from some
reason or another, implicated in the surrender with
the Governor.
The King of Sweden had witnessed with great The Elec-
uneasiness the acts of diplomacy that were employed gaxonv's
to detach his allies from him. There was no one re- jealousy of
spectinsr whose sincerity he had a greater misgiving . e F™w"
r ° J ° so mg mflu-
than that of John George, Elector of Saxony. Hating enceofGus-
war in the abstract, yet jealous to the highest degree tavus-
of the military reputation of Gustavus, this Sovereign
could not see without great disquiet the interference of
Sweden in the affairs of the Empire. The increasing
influence of the King in Germany, his authority over
many of the Protestant states, the palpable ambition
which must naturally arise out of so many conquests,
all combined to excite great uneasiness in the Elector's
breast ; and the bitter complaints against the Swedish
army which were continuaUy made by the Saxon Court
seemed to render an approaching rupture inevitable. The
Elector of Saxony was at this moment displeased at the
intention of the Swedish King to attack Ingoldstadt,
and disliked his taking advantage of an insurrection in
Upper Austria to invade that hereditary dominion of
the Emperor. To these complaints, however, Gustavus
2 OS
GUSTAVUS ADOLPnUS.
Tycho
Brahe's
astrologi-
cal predic-
tions.
Gustavus
takes his
last leave
of Oxen-
stierna, and
of his
Queen.
had" not listened ; but now that he was informed by
express from Oxenstierna, that Wallenstein had fallen
upon Voigtland and Misnia, and threatened to overrun
the Saxon electorate, he thought it due to his ally to
interfere, and broke up with all haste from the valley
of the Danube, and marched back to Nuremberg, in-
tending to penetrate the vast Thuringian forest, and to
protect the territory of his unstable colleague. Gus-
tavus moreover had never had any confidence in the
Saxon General Arnheim, and he had received very clear
evidence that he was in direct correspondence with
Wallenstein.
The celebrated Swedish astronomer, Tycho Brahe,
who had lived up to the beginning of this century, had
announced on the appearance of a new star in Cas-
siopeia, in the year 1572, "that a northern prince
might be expected to arise who should greatly assist the
interests of the more pure religion, and that the pre-
cise culmination of this astral influence should be per-
ceived by the generality of mankind in the year 1632,
or thereabouts." Gustavus being now in the zenith
of his glory, in the very year indicated, many were
led to recur to this prediction, and to cast in their
minds to what it was now about to lead.
The Swedish army marched in fourteen days to
Arnstadt, where it rested for six days. The King had
brought the Chancellor with him from Nuremberg, to
confer with him at greater leisure as to the prospects
of the war. But here Oxenstierna took his last farewell
of his respected Sovereign and early friend, and returned
to Nuremberg ; while the King carried the army for-
ward a march of twenty miles to Erfurt, where he found
his Queen Eleonora, who received him on foot in the
market-place, attended by her train of ladies ; and here,
two days later, he took a most affectionate leave of her
also, who was never again to behold him, save in his
coffin at Weissenfels. In two days and a half His Ma-
jesty, by easy marches, reached Naumburg on the 1st of
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 209
November, which town on his approach he found barred
against him by an officer of Pappenheim's ; on which
Gustavus sent Colonel Brandstein, at the head of a
body of musketeers, who, on reaching the gate of the
city, and finding some hesitation in its being opened,
applied a petard to the portcullis, and, opening his way,
entered the town sword in hand. The inhabitants of
the country through which Gustavus Adolphus had
marched flocked around his path in crowds, to look
upon the great hero who a short year before had
alighted in that same region, appearing among them
like a protecting angel. Shouts of joy every where
attended his progress. The people knelt before him,
and struggled for the honour of touching the sheath
of his sword, or kissing the hem of his garment.
The characteristic modesty of the " Lion of the North "
disliked these tributes of veneration, which a grateful
and admiring multitude paid him, saying, " Is it not
as if this people would make a god of me ? Our affairs
indeed prosper ; but I fear the vengeance of Heaven
will fall upon me for this presumption, and soon reveal
to this multitude my human weakness and mortality."
Wallenstein, having overrun Voigtland, and besieged Battle of
and captured Leipzig, had now, on the 28th of October, Lufczen-
effected a junction with Pappenheim at Merseburg.
While the two Imperial leaders were concocting their
future plan of operations, word came that the King of
Sweden had arrived on the banks of the Saal. It became
necessary, therefore, to bring matters to the hazard of
a battle, in order that the Imperialist army might
secure winter-quarters, for it was now already on the
verge of winter. Duke Bernhard of Saxe Weimar, who
had been hovering about Wallenstein's movements, had
now joined the King, so that Gustavus was at the head
of 20,000 veterans. However, he consulted both Bern-
hard and Kniphausen as to their opinion of his hazard-
ing a battle ; and it was resolved that His Majesty had
better not do so with such odds of numbers against him,
p
210 GUSTAVUS ADOLPUITS.
principally on the judgment of the older general, Knip-
hausen, who laid it down that " no commander ought to
encounter an enemy superior to him in strength, unless
compelled to do so by some pressing necessity. Now, your
Majesty is neither circumscribed in space, nor in want
of provisions, forage, or warlike stores." In consequence
of this decision, the army was ordered, on the 3rd of
November, to throw up intrenchments, in order to
await some reinforcements expected under the Duke
of Lunenburg. This precaution of the King's deceived
the Imperialist General, who thought that Gustavus
was forming his intrenched camp near Naumburg, so,
he had previously done near Nuremberg. Wallenstci;
moreover found that all voices in his army were raise-
against continuing the campaign in the severe weatlu
and were universally clamorous in their desire for repi »s
In the hesitation of his mind, it is said that he had tl
condescension to request Pappenheim to collect tl
private opinions of all the generals and colonels, wl.
declared unanimously against any attempt to force tli
Swedish lines. t
Gustavus It is not very clearly recorded why, when the hostil
suddenly armies were in such close position, the Imperialis-
attack the General should have taken the step that he next did,
Impe- which was — to detach Pappenheim, with 8000 men,
nahsts. to jjjjjg jjut tne fac£ that he had done so was made
known to the King by an intercepted letter from
General Colloredo on the very day that the detachment
marched off. Other divisions of the army were found
also to have moved into cantonments between the
Unstruth and the Saal. On hearing of this act of his
adversary, the King thought himself released from
Kniphausen's arguments, and to be at liberty to follow
his own inclination to bring "Wallenstein to battle. At
one hour after midnight, on the 5th November, the whole
Swedish army was accordingly put in motion as far as
Pegau, where it stopped four hours before daylight to
take some repose and refreshment ; and Gustavus here
GITSTAVTJS ADOLPHUS. 2] 1
received from some of the country people the gratifying
assurance that the Imperialist army was quiet, and
had made no counter-movement. He formed the idea
on the spur of the moment to advance and surprise
the detachments in their quarters before it could be
possible for the commanding officers to collect any
mass together. He therefore demanded the road to
Lutzen.andwas informed that it was close under his eves,
and the army was therefore ordered to march " right
shoulders forward," and to bend its course towards that
place, supposed to be five miles distant. It proved, how-
ever, to be more than eight miles off; and the greater
oart of the day was expended in struggling through the
day of the ploughed ground, making but an inconsider-
ble advance. At length they attained to Rippach, a
illage in which was a regiment of Imperial cuirassiers,
nd another of Croatians. The King immediately
pened some field-pieces, under whose fire he attacked
he flank, while he went forward and dislodged the
memy out of their quarters : but yet it was thought
3hat the success was unimportant, and that this
urtive night-march of the whole Swedish army
was a somewhat rash proceeding ; so that Knip-
hausen again intruded his counsel to the King for a
retreat. The King however replied, with a tone of
decision somewhat more arbitrary than was customary
with him, " that the die was now cast ; that he could
not bear to have Wallenstein under his beard and not
make a swoop upon him ; for," said he, " I long to
unearth him, and see how he can acquit himself in a
champaign country." The motions of the Swedish army
had been, however, now recognized ; and the fight
troops of the Duke of Friedland, under the command of
the Croatian General Isolani, dashed forward to occupy
the villages on the plain of Lutzen. Wallenstein at
the same time despatched an officer to recall Pappen-
heim, with orders to allow nothing to impede his
return. As soon as he had sent off his message, and
p 2
212
OVSTAVTS ADOI/l'llTS.
Disposition
of the hos-
lilc forces
before the
battle.
recovered a little his presence of mind, he began to
scan anxiously the nature of the ground occupied by
himself, or possessed by Gustavus, and to reconnoitre
the battle-field before him.
A large highway from Lutzen to Leipzig bisects the
plain in a line that extends from west to east; on the
southern side of which lay the Swedes, and on the
northern the Imperialists. Two ditches, one on each
side, ran parallel to this road, on the sides of which,
here and there, were old willow-trees. The soil is a
deep rich mould, somewhat heavy to the tread of horse
and foot. On Wallenstein's right, near the town of
Lutzen, was an eminence, on which some windmills
stood. It does not appear that Gustavus employed
the time of the evening of the 5th in forming any
artificial defences ; but the Duke of Friedland had
ordered that the ditches on the road-side should be
deepened and widened ; and he fixed two large batteries
on the windmill hill. Gustavus ordered his army to
be prepared to attack two hours before daybreak ; but
the morning was so intensely dark, owing to a heavy
mist, that it was scarcely possible to discern an object
at two pikes' distance. The King had passed the
night in his coach with Kniphausen and Duke Bern-
hard, for the old campaigner was not the proprietor of
a tent, or of any field equipage — a neglect which is not
generally the characteristic of an old soldier. Gustavus
was early on horseback, but finding he could not fight,
he proposed to pray ; and ordered his chaplain to per-
form Divine service. He declined to take any refresh-
ment— another grievous omission in an old soldier.
When invited to put on his steel breastplate, according
to custom, he refused, saying, " The Lord is my
armour ;" and this would have been a weakness, but
that it is believed that a wound he had formerly received
prevented his wearing it ; and he was therefore only clad
in a new plain cloth doublet, and an elk-skin surtout 2.
2 This dress is still preserved in the Imperial Museum at Vienna.
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 213
" God with us," was the countersign of the Swedes ;
" Jesu Maria," was that of the Imperialists.
It was past eight o'clock (some say eleven) before Desperate
the fog lifted ; and the King immediately mounted his pCtl°n r: .
horse, and made a short address to the several divisions sia;n.
of his army. Drawing his sword for action, Gustavus
placed himself at the head of the right wing. Wallen-
stein opened upon his advance a heavy fire of artillery ;
to which the King could ill reply, from the fact that,
although the Swedish guns were more in number than
those of his adversary, yet they were all of light calibre,
and many of them merely made of leather. The ditches
of the road were a formidable obstacle for any troops to
surmount, for they were lined with musketeers, who
exceedingly incommoded the cavalry in their advance.
But at length the "commanded" musketeers of the
Swedes cleared the high road, and crossed it. But the
brigades that followed the advance found the passage
of the road so hazardous, that they seemed to pause ;
whereupon Gustavus, quickly observing this hesitation,
snatched a partisan from one of the colonels, to lead
them across. " If," said he, with severity, " after
having passed so many rivers, scaled so many walls,
and fought so many battles, your old courage has failed
you, stand still but a moment, and see your master
die in the manner we all ought to be ready to do ;"
and he essayed to leap the ditch before them. " Stop,
sire," said the men ; " for Heaven's sake spare your
invaluable life ; do not distrust us ; the business shall
be completed." Having now passed the ditches with
them, he observed opposite to him three dark masses
of Imperial cuirassiers, clad in iron ; and, turning to
Colonel Stalhaus, an officer of considerable repute, he
said, " Charge me those black fellows ; for they are
men that will undo us — as for the Croatians, I mind
them not." Stalhaus executed the royal order with
great alacrity; but the Croatians suddenly changed their
direction, to fall upon the baggage, and had actually
214 (,lsi\VL'S ABOLPHTJS.
reached the King's coach, which only escaped capture
in the great disorder. The trenches being passed, the
Swedes pressed forward with such irresistible impetuosity
that the first, second, and third Imperial hrigades were
forced to fly ; hut Wallenstein came down to their aid
in person, and at the sound of his voice the fugitives
were stopped. Three regiments of cavalry now arrived
to cover their re-formation, and they in their turn
pressed vigorously against the Swedes, who were forced
to retire again hey on d the trenches ; and a Swedish
hattery on the further side was captured. The King
was at the moment on the right, Avhen word was
hrought him that his left wing had heen driven hack
across the trenches. Leavingtherefore Gustavus Horn to
maintain the conflict on the right, he galloped at the head
of the regiment of Steinhoch to repair the disorder. As
he passed along, a cuirassier corporal, or " Gefreyter," of
Piccolomini's regiment, remarking that every one re-
spectfully made way for him, and therefore thinking
he must he an officer of consecpaence, immediately
ordered a musketeer to fire at him. The soldier fired
as he was ordered, and Gustavus received his first
wound in his left arm. With his accustomed resolution
he concealed the fact from the men around him ; hut,
at length, perceiving his strength to fail, he whispered
to the Duke of Lauenberg, " Cousin, I perceive myself
to he grievously wounded ; lead me to some place of
safety." At the same moment an Imperial scmadron
came rushing up, and, in the confusion of the moment,
the King received a second shot, in the back ; when he
turned to the same prince, saying, " Brother, I have
enough ; look you to your own life ;" and at the same
instant he fell to the ground. His few personal
attendants remained at his side to tend and protect
him ; but the troops that accompanied him were dis-
persed. A desperate struggle, however, still took place
around his body ; when a German page, refusing to tell
his royal master's rank, was shot through the body.
OUSTAVFS ADOLPHUS. 215
But the dying hero, taking up the question, said, " I
am the King of Sweden, and seal with my blood the
Protestant religion and the liberties of Germany."
A shot from a pistol, and a sword-thrust, soon ter-
minated the life of the royal sufferer, who could only
add, " My God ! my God ! Alas ! my poor Queen,"
and expired.
The sight of the King's charger covered with blood Duke Bern-
proclaimed to the army that " the Lion of the North hard of
had fallen." Duke Bernhard of Saxe Weimar im- ^J*'
mediately assumed the command, and ordered an smnes the
advance to secure possession of the royal body. The of™™*11'1
soldiers fought for it like enraged lions, for every one Swedish
seemed to have the ambition to expire by the side of army"
their royal leader; but it could not at that time be
obtained. The fight was some time maintained with
resistless impetuosity, and the yellow guard of the
King was nearly cut to pieces. It was not till the
fury of the battle was past, that, after a long search,
the royal corpse was discovered, covered with wounds
and blood, trampled under horses' hoofs, stripped
and naked, and scarcely to be recognized. After the
victory of Lutzen the King's body rested for a time on
a great stone, which still exists on the field, and is
called "the Stone of the Swede." The body was
afterwards carried from the field in state, attended by
the whole army, and conducted to Weissenfels, where
it was entrusted to the care of Queen Eleonora, and the
loving wife attended it to Sweden, when it was deposited
in the royal vault at Stockholm, amidst the tears of the
Swedish nation ; and the sight of the coffin still excites
the sympathies of after generations, who will never cease
to appreciate Gustavus' very great worth, devotion, and
most just claims to immortality 3.
3 At the death of the King his body was stripped on the field
by the Imperialists almost before it was cold, for every one was
desirous to possess a relic that had belonged to this great and good
man. His buff waistcoat was ordered to be taken off from the body
210 GUSTAVTS ADOLPHUS.
Personal In person Ghistavus Adolplms was extremely majcs-
nceand ^c' aim ^ was ms nowe form, and the many honour-
general able scars on his body, that distinguished him most
character, pre-eminently in the heap of the " ignoble slain." He
vus Adol- was the most graceful figure of his own army, of the
phus. tallest but not in the least obese, although somewhat
inclined to stoutness. His eyes were of a hght grey
colour, and had a piercing clearness, but inclined to soft-
ness, excepting when occasional bursts of anger discom-
posed them, then they flashed fire ; his hair was light,
his nose somewhat aquiline, his forehead large, and his
complexion florid. His countenance, as will be acknow-
ledged by all who know the many portraits of him, was
open and attractive ; and his manners, though command-
ing, were affable and condescending. It was said of him,
" that he died with the sword in his hand, the word of
command on his tongue, and victory in his imagination."
But his greatest praise is that of which he was himself
ambitious ;— — " That he might be regarded as the prince
who had fulfilled the duties of that station which
Providence had assigned to him in the world." Pro-
fessor Smyth thus sums up his character, with a
moral that is deserving of every general's deep con-
sideration : — " It is fortunate when the high courage
and activity of which the human character is capable
are tempered with a sense of justice, wisdom, and
benevolence : when he who leads thousands to the field
by Piccolomini, who sent it as a trophy to the Emperor. His sword
was taken out of his death-grasp, and carried no one knew whither.
His ring and spurs got into the possession of one of the name of
Hoik j and his gold chain is still preserved in a family of the
name of Schneberg. But from the period in question nothing is
known concerning a famous turquoise of extraordinary size and
beauty, that had belonged from time immemorial to the crown of
Sweden. It was surmised that it had fallen into the hands of a
Roman-Catholic Bishop, who desired that his diocese should pos-
sess this distinguishing mark of Anti-Christ (for such the Papists
styled Gustavus) — Ne qui alii, ut post victoriam ignavi eliam
(jloriantur, hanc sibi laudem prcecerpant.
OKTSTAVTTS ADOLPHUS. 217
has sensibility enough to feel the responsibility of his
awful trust, and wisdom enough to take care that he
directs against its proper objects alone, the afflicting
storm of human devastation. It is not always that
they who have commanded the admiration of mankind
have claims like these to their applause. It is not
always that the great and high endowments of courage
and sagacity are so united with other high qualities, as
to present to the historian at once a Christian, a soldier,
and a statesman. Yet such was Gustavus Adolphus, —
a hero deserving of the name, perfectly distinguishable
from those who have assumed the honours that belong
to it, — the mere military executioners with whom every
age has been infested."
Gustavus Adolphus is thought to have been the first Gustavus
sovereign who set the example of a standing army. sets*.tue
° , r _ . . earliest ex-
The feudal association of Barons with their retainers, ample of a
had given way in the previous century to a set of standiug
military adventurers, who made war a profession to
gratify then* licence and their acquisitiveness, and who
were commissioned by kings and leaders to collect
together the assassins of Europe. These constituted
at the very time of the Thirty Years' War the unprin-
cipled and insatiate legions who harried Germany, who,
without much discipline, were continually dissipated by
the first disaster, and collected together again as it were
from the four winds of heaven to cover the face of the
land again and again with terror, devastation, and con-
fusion. Gustavus, who had witnessed this from afar,
or experienced it in his Polish wars, had in him that
spirit of organization and order, which signally distin-
guished him above every great leader who preceded him.
He saw that a well-disciplined force of men to be com-
manded by a superior class of officers of high honour and
intelligence, and who should constitute an armed body
that might obtain the dignity of a profession of arms,
would be a more efficient and a cheaper defence of
nations than the hap-hazard assembling of mere blood-
cannon.
218 GUSTAVTJS ADOLP1IUS.
bounds ; and he first executed the project of having a
force of 80,000 men, part in activity, and part in
reserve, who should be constantly maintained well
armed, well clothed, well fed, and well disciplined.
[mprove- It is, perhaps, the highest military encomium of
artUlerv • tlustavus Adolphus, that he was the greatest tactician
leather of his age. The necessity of remodelling the national
army, so as to make it to be more readily handled and
set in motion, had been effectively learned in his Polish
wars. The Swedish battalion of infantry, as constituted
by the King, was divided into eight companies — 150
or 160 men in each. Two-thirds of each company were
musketeers, and one-third pikemen. It must be re-
membered that bayonets had not yet been invented,
and the organization accordingly required that the
pikemen should be placed in the midst of the company,
and the musketeers at the flanks ; but they were so
told off, that when infantry were to be encountered the
musketeers advanced and poured in their fire ; and
when cavalry impended, the pikemen were thrown for-
ward, their flanks being well covered by the flanking
fire of the musketeers. The instruments of war were
also considerably improved ; the incumbrance and other
defects of the matchlock were rectified ; and flintlocks
began to supersede the very cumbrous process of the
match. The rest, which was still considered necessary
for the musket, was now abolished for the pike, which
was also lightened by being shortened. Gustavus was
likewise the first who reduced the matchlock of the
cavalry to the dimensions of carbines. The soldiers up
to his time carried bandoliers, or a leathern belt gar-
nished with eleven little wooden cylindric boxes, ten of
which contained ball-cartridge, and the eleventh loose
powder for priming. This the King superseded by the
cartouche-box, and a powder-flask, from which last they
blew the powder into the priming-pan. The cuirassiers
were still completely cased in armour from head to foot.
The King first restricted his own heavy cavalry to
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 219
breastplates and a headpiece ; the horsemen had till
then carried a long pike, sixteen feet long, which was
also reduced to the length of eleven feet : the general
principle adopted by the King in all these changes
being the sensible one — of rendering men more agile in
the field. The soldiers of every army still carried
swords. It is true that the same fate awaited many of
the inventions of Gustavus that attach to those of all
other men. Being in advance of the prejudices of his
own age, they dropped into desuetude after him. No
more remarkable example of this could have existed
than the invention of leather cannon, which certainly
contributed very considerably to the victory at Leipzig,
and to many of the successful actions of the King's
wars. These pieces were of extraordinary service upon
all rapid marches, through deep land, and over difficult
mountain passes ; for one strong horse could convey a
couple of them as fast as any troops could march.
They were easily shifted, and quickly discharged. In
our time we can afford to smile at an invention which
has been altogether shunted ; but at that period its
merit of portability, and its facility of opening unex-
pected bombardment upon the masses, which were the
ordinary formation of every hostile array, and especially
against cavalry, from whose attacks they could be
speedily removed, gave them such consideration in this
King's eyes, that he used them in all his wars from
1628 till his death. They were composed of thick
layers of the hardest leather, girt round with iron or
brass rings or hoops. They of course could not be
used a great many times, for after eight or twelve dis-
charges they would fall to pieces : but they could be
readily manufactured in camp, and were thus promptly
replaced. Gustavus paid very great attention to the
artillery arm, which before his time was very cumbrous :
and the practice of loading guns with cartridge was now
substituted for the very hazardous employment of loose
gunpowder. The Marquis of Hamilton, who was also
22U
OUSTA.YUS ADOLPIIUS.
Gustavus'
great en-
courage-
ment of
literature.
His liiyh
moral and
religious
excellence.
of an inventive genius, brought over with his little arm y
a four-pounder brigade, each drawn by a pair of horses,
which the King found very efficient in manoeuvring.
The Swedish evolutions in columns, and the Scotch
custom of platoon firing, are both of the time of Gus-
tavus, who also anticipated the golden rule of the great
Marshal Saxe — "Never to fight without a reserve."
Before his time the Swedish troops used to be formed
nine deep, but he perceived that in the improvement of
artillery these masses were exposed to great havoc and
were difficult to move, and he therefore formed his
troops three deep. He is also said to have introduced
the bayonet and ball-cartridge.
This warlike monarch possessed, beside his noble
military qualities, many virtues, which in a reign of
peace would have distinguished him above this world's
rulers. He patronized literature, and sought to in-
crease the Archiepiscopal library of Upsal with muni-
ficent donations from the plunder of the many epis-
copal libraries which were scattered " here and there
and every where," in the wars of Germany ; and these
are still numbered among its chief treasures. He also
founded the Royal Academy at Abo, and the Uni-
versity at Dorpen in Livonia. He had a playful love
of Latinity; so that when he travelled incognito he
would call himself Gabs, adopted from the capital letters
of his later title, Gustavus Adolphus, Rex Sueviae.
Yet, without doubt, the high attributes of this great
King's character were his private qualities of honesty,
magnanimity, morality, and religion. There was not
one breach of trust, one habitual immorality, one in-
fraction of religion, one disregard of public virtue or
private worth, that can strictly, or with any justice, be
laid to his charge. "We never find him encroaching or
overbearing as a Sovereign; we never discover him
false or dishonourable in any of the relative or social
duties of life. He preferred no man but for his presumed
merit and probity ; he broke his faith neither with poten-
GUSTAVUS ADOLFHUS. 221
tate nor with subject; he never had recourse to dissimula-
tion or deceit ; for as a brave man he despised it, and
as a man of integrity and judgment he did not need it.
Gustavus Adolphus was one of those great and for-
tunate human beings, "quern vituperare ne inimici
quidem possunt, nisi ut simul laudent" and his name
must ever live in the world's history as " The Lion of
the North, and the bulwark of the Protestant faith."
Gustavus had ardently desired a son who might learn His daugh-
from him the arts of war and government, in which he ter and
thought he excelled ; and on his return from his cam- Christina,
paign in Poland, on the 8th of December, 1626, it
was announced to him that the Queen was delivered of
a male child. But it proved a mistake ; the child was
really a girl, but had been taken for a boy because it
was dark and ugly, and cried with a loud rough voice.
This was the celebrated Christina, Queen of Sweden.
No one liked to explain the disappointment to the
King, until at length his sister, the Princess Catherine,
took the child in her arms, and, carrying it to her bro-
ther, announced to him that he had a daughter. Gus-
tavus was too noble to show any vexation, even if he
felt it. He kissed the child, and said, " Let us thank
God, sister ; I hope this girl will be as good as a boy :
I am content, and pray God to preserve the child."
After a few moments he added, " She is an arch wench
to put a trick upon us so soon." Christina was very
fond of her illustrious father, and would go with him
to his reviews, evincing the greatest delight by clapping
her little hands when the troops fired, so that the King
ordered the firing to be repeated for her, saying, " She
is a soldier's daughter."
A famous letter of the King to Oxenstierna, recom- Commits
mending his wife and child to his care, is on record, in ^1S (amilv
D . 'to the care
which he tells him, " I exhort and entreat you for the of Oxen-
love of Christ, that if all does not go on well, you will stierna-
not lose courage. I conjure you to remember me and
the welfare of my family, and to act towards me and
222
flUSTAVUS ADOLPIIUS.
His
staunch
Protes-
tantism
attracted
many
Scotch to
his person.
mine as you would have God act towards you and
yours, and as I will act to you and yours if it please
God that I survive you, and that your family have
need of me."
Gustavus was faithful to his friends, merciful to his
enemies, sincere and unselfish. He has heen reproached
for ambition, and suspected of aiming at an universal
monarchy ; but if he had wished it, he could hardly
have ventured to thwart the warlike inclinations of his
people, who were eager to side with their fellow-Pro-
testants in Germany ; and he was in heart and soul the
representative of Protestant opinion, and thought an
invasion of Germany the most effectual means of keep-
ing war from his own dominions. The religious enthu-
siasm of the Swedes extended to their mercenary auxi-
liaries, and the Scotch brigade considered a war against
Popery as their own cause, and stood firm to the
Swedes when others revolted1. They found their truest
master in Gustavus Adolphus, who knew their qualities
well, and made full use of them in building up the
great fabric of his fame. The King sent back to Scot-
land many a military commander for the great events
of later warfare, trained and instructed in discipline and
strategy by the crowned leader of this wonderful army.
Several of the leaders became, from their fidelity, valour,
and intelligence, exceedingly renowned all over Europe.
Among their names may be recorded Rutherford ;
Spence of Warminster, created by the Swedish king
Count Orcholm ; Alexander Leslie, afterwards Earl of
Leven, entitled " Scoticani foederis supremus dux ;"
Drummond, governor of Pomerania ; Lindsay, Earl of
Craufurd ; Ramsay ; Hepburn ; Monro ; and last, not
least, Sir Patrick Ruthven, the most attached and
loved of all the great king's Scotch followers.
4 Life of Gustavus Adolphus by Harte; Schiller; Mitchell;
Burton ; Ankers ; Fryxell's History of Sweden ; Kriegs-Kunst
Lexikon ; and Biographies passim.
GODFREY HENRY, COUNT YON
PAPPENHEIM,
AN IMPERIALIST GENERAL.
Born 1594. Died 1632.
No record appears to exist of the family, or province, Birth and
from, which this renowned warrior sprang. All that education :
seems to be known of his infancy is, that, according fl0n ^0 the
to the superstitious traditions of the Ultra-Romanist Papal
communion, to which he belonged, he is said to have
been marked from his very cradle for the great deeds
of a warrior's life, and for a most glorious warrior's
death, by a singular mark on his baby brow, which
was tb ought to resemble cross swords, but which, never-
theless, in after life, only became visible to the eye on
occasions when he was greatly excited in mind and
temper. He is, however, stated on some authority to
have been born in 1594, and to have been very nobly
descended — " originally a baron." We also hear of
him as a student at the Universities of Altorf and
224) GODFREY IIENUV.
Tubingen, where he made himself remarkable for reli-
gious zeal, either as a convert or as a natural-horn
disciple of the Romish Church. It is believed that
on quitting the Universities he travelled through
France, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands, and that on
his return from this tour he was appointed Aulic-
Councillor of the Empire. He was, at any rate, at the
capital when hostilities first broke out in the religious
war in 1618, when his partisan fervour and enthu-
siasm led him to take up arms, and to enrol himself
among the most devoted adherents of the Catholic
League and the Imperial power. He served his first
campaign in the Valtalina, and performed wonders at
the siege of Chiavenna. It is probable, from many
circumstances combined, that he received a high mili-
tary rank very soon ; but at any rate he was present
in some command, and was wounded, at the battle of
Prague, in 1620, where he obtained the reputation of a
brave soldier and considerable military renown. This
anecdote has been preserved of him, — that, when left
for dead on the field, he firmly believed himself to be
already in Purgatory, inasmuch as he was not conscious
that he shared either the pleasures of heaven or the
pains of hell.
Takes the However, he recovered from his wounds, and lived
field to fight again ; and we next hear of him in 1630, after
Swedes th° the Kin& of Sweden had !anded with his army in
Germany, and against whom he was sent by the Elec-
tor of Bavaria, at the head of 6000 men, to assist
Torquato de Conti and Duke Savelli in Brandenburg.
He there encountered Duke Christian William, who
appeared in the field as Administrator of the Duchy of
Magdeburg. Pappenheim, the most decisive and active
general of those days, soon compelled such a novice in
war, as this old prince was, to contract the conquests
he had made, and at length reduced him to shelter his
troops within the walls of that city, round which he
formed as strict a blockade as his force permitted.
COUNT VON PAPPENHEIM. 225
But Tilly, who commanded all the several armies
in those parts, and was now advancing against
Gustavus, ordered Pappenheim to march away from
Magdeburg against the Duke Francis Charles of Saxe-
Lauenberg, who had enlisted a body of soldiers in the
districts around Hamburg and Lubeck, and was acting
in the interests of the exiled Duke of Mecklenburg.
Pappenheim, who is said to have exceeded most generals
in the art of speedy marches, with great secrecy of
enterprise, appeared suddenly before Ratzburg, a place
of residence belonging to the family of Lauenberg,
where he had secured the bridge, and the portcullis
that defended it, before he was perceived by the garri-
son ; upon which the reigning Duke, who was afraid to
exasperate the Emperor, sent his brother Francis
Charles to demand a truce, which was granted to him,
and he was admitted into the palace with the generous
promise that the family should not be injured for their
conduct in taking up arms.
Gustavus Adolphus had in the mean while advanced
from conquest to conquest, had secured Stettin, Frank-
fort, and Landsberg, and had no Imperialist army
left to oppose him. Pappenheim, who seldom saw
matters in a dejected and desponding spirit, now
wrote to the Elector of Bavaria, " that the Emperor
must fall, unless the whole united Catholic body sup-
ported him with all their money and forces ; that
Gustavus was already arbiter of the fate of Germany ;
that Frankfort and Landsberg were both in his pos-
session ; and that His Swedish Majesty might raise the
siege of Magdeburg, as there was no sufficient Impe-
rial army to oppose him." He accordingly demanded
armies and money with much earnestness both for
Tilly and himself.
As soon as Pappenheim had frustrated the attempt
of the Duke of Lauenberg to impede the siege of
Magdeburg, he returned to that city, drove the troops
of the Administrator from their intrenchments, and
Q
220 OODFBET HENBY,
closely invested the place. He was soon followed by
Tilly, who forthwith called on the Elector of Saxony
to order Magdeburg to be surrendered to him for the
Emperor. Pappenbeim, acting probably under the
orders of his superior, addressed himself to Count
Falkenberg, an experienced officer, — whom the King
of Sweden had sent into Magdeburg to assist the
Administrator in his defence of the town, — and made
that officer an offer by letter of a large sum of money,
and the title of Count of the Empire, if he would sur-
render the place. Falkenberg ordered the trumpeter
who brought in this communication into his presence,
and, without writing any reply, sent back this verbal
answer in the presence of all his officers, " That General
Pappenheim might find the sort of men he wanted at
home, but that Falkenberg was not a person of that
character ; and," he added, " mind, whoever comes here
again on such an errand, shall receive a halter instead
of a gold chain," which in those days was the present of
honour. In the mean time, on the 30th of March,
1031, Tilly sat down before Magdeburg, and pushed
the siege of it with vigour. An outwork called
" Pappenheim's Fort," signifying that it was of such
strength as to be worthy of attack by that general,
was speedily taken sword in hand ; and other outworks
soon followed. One called the " Tollsconce," which
commanded the bridge, was defended vigorously, and
cost the Imperialists 500 men ; nevertheless, though
defended by Falkenberg himself, it could not be held,
and was yielded up after destroying the bridge. The
suburbs of Sudenberg and Neustadt were now also
abandoned to the enemy ; and Tilly, dividing the
attack, sent Pappenheim across the Elbe at Schonen-
beck, to attack the city from the opposite side ; and in
the rencontre which this brought on with the besieged
Pappenheim was like to have been killed or taken
prisoner.
The siege continued with various fortune into the
COUNT TON PAPPENUEIM. 227
month of May, when the ammunition of the besieged
was nearly expended, and the cannon of the town
gradually ceased to reply to the fire of the Imperialists.
On the 9th the fire of the besiegers suddenly stopped,
and cannon were seen to be withdrawn from several of
the batteries. A death-like stillness and suspense fell
upon the town with almost insupportable heaviness.
The besieged, convinced that deliverance was at hand,
quitted their posts, and, after long toils, indulged in the
refreshment of sleep. It is more than probable that Tilly
intended to work this delusion upon them. Between
the 9th and 10th, at about one o'clock in the morning,
Pappenheim was summoned over the river to a council
of war at the Generalissimo's quarters. With a most
insatiate appetite for danger and fighting, and with
the habit of thought that many things were done by
the mere resolution to do them, Pappenheim, with a
majority, pronounced for an assault, which was ordered
for five o'clock in the morning. The General was
ordered to attack the works of the new town, where the
attempt would be favoured by a sloping rampart and a
dry ditch of moderate depth. His personal courage made
him always the darling of the soldiers. He now placed
himself at the head of the regiments of Pappenheim,
Savelli, and Gronsfeld, and of all the cavalry, whom he
ordered to dismount and follow him. He easily forced
the city soldiers out of the fausse braye, and obliged
them to retreat behind the upper wall. He had taken
the precaution of ordering each soldier to wear a white
ribbon round the arm, that he might be recognized in
the confusion, and gave the watchword (which was
afterwards used at Leipzig) " Jesu Maria." The
Imperialists under Pappenheim were here encountered
by Falkenberg himself, at the head of all the troops
he could collect together ; and the assailants were
repulsed and driven beyond the new work, but the
Swedish governor was unfortunately mortally wounded,
and carried back into the town : the roaring of mus-
Q 2
228 GODFREY HENTttY,
ketry, the pealing of the alarm-hells, and the growing
tumult, had awakened the citizens, who, hastily arming
themselves, rushed hlindly against the enemy. But
whether their ammunition failed them, or that the
news of the death of the governor had transpired,
Pappenheim perceiving their courage to fail pushed
forward, and at seven o'clock in the morning tri-
umphantly entered the streets. He then opened the
gates, and admitted the divisions of Holstein and
Mansfeld into the town, which was soon in the
hands of the Imperialists.
The Administrator, who had acted with great cou-
rage, and had received many wounds, was found by
Pappenheim at this juncture most ignominiously
treated, and stripped naked ; and he would have been
barbarously murdered, but for the General's humanity,
who ordered him to be taken up and carried on two
pikes to his tent ; and on the following day he was
sent on a couch to Wolmerstadt, attended by his own
surgeon and chaplain. This merciful conduct may
appear to justify Pappenheim from being the author or
even the abettor of the monstrous scene of cruelty
which followed on the occupation of Magdeburg by
Tilly's army of ImperiaHsts.
Tilly and The entrance of the Generals on the 14th had at
appeiv lengfch put a stop to the sack of the place ; and Tilly,
counter after the performance of a Te Deum and a solemn
QuBtayus mass [n the cathedral, notified the fate of Magrdeburcr
Adolphus . B &
at Leipzig, to the Protestant Princes in the tone of a conqueror.
Many submitted at once under the general consterna-
tion ; but the Landgrave of Hesse was of a different
temper, not easily intimidated, and one of the most
powerful of the Leipzig Confederation, and Tilly re-
solved to endeavour to bring him under submission ;
accordingly, leaving Pappenheim in command at
Magdeburg, he marched straight into Thuringia. He
had not gone from the city long, when the approach of
the Swedish vanguard as near as the monastery of
COUNT VON PAPPENHEIM.
Jericho, apprised Pappenheim that the King of Sweden
was approaching ; who, in fact, came down inconti-
nently to the very hridge of Magdeburg, and forced the
Imperialist garrison to retire within the city. Tilly
was not far off, having only reached Mulhausen, and
Pappenheim anxiously wrote to him, earnestly requiring
him to return by rapid marches to Magdeburg. Tilly
immediately came back to Leipzig, which he forthwith
summoned to receive an Imperial garrison ; and, the
timid governor having opened its gates on the second
day, he ordered Pappenheim to join him there ; and on
the morning of the 7th of September the Imperialist
and Swedish armies came in sight of each other on
the plain of Breitenfeld, not far from Leipzig.
It has been said, that Pappenheim was the only one
of his opponents whom the King of Sweden regarded
as a soldier, and that he feared none of their Generals
excepting this " Balafre," as he called him ; for although
of the same age as Gustavus, who had only just entered
his thirty-seventh year, yet he had earned a reputation,
and already carried on his body the marks of a hundred
wounds. Tilly would now even have deferred a fight,
as he was expecting reinforcements ; but the impe-
tuosity of Pappenlieim obliged him as soon as the
enemy was in sight to alter his plans. In the council
of war that was held on the occasion our hero even
dared to impeach the courage of the Generalissimo,
which touched to the very quick the sensibility of
the veteran of thirty-five successful actions. The old
man nevertheless determined in his own mind not to
bring on a general engagement. There was, however,
a little rivulet and dirty swamp, where only a few men
could pass in front, near a small village, called Podel-
witz, on the Loder. As soon as Pappenheim saw the
Swedish and Saxon troops advancing into this defile,
he advanced against them at the head of 2000 cuiras-
siers, and attacked the vanguard, which, after a brief
struggle, was forced to retreat. Tilly saw this inci-
dent with vexation, but quickly descending from the
GOiu ui \ iii.m;\.
eminence on which he had placed himself, though much
discomposed at it in his mind, he commanded his troops
to advance in support of Pappenheim with so much
ardour and precipitation, that he himself was left with-
out the support of a proper body of reserve. When
Pappenheim was informed that his wing was unsup-
ported by any reserve, he appeared to hold the defect
cheap ; but Gustavus saw the fault, and pushed his
onset against him so vigorously as to thrust him quite
out of the line ; but the Imperialist General returning
to the charge seven times, and compelling Baner to
come up to the King's assistance, was at length obliged
to send to the Generalissimo for 2000 fresh horsemen.
Notwithstanding this assistance, however, he was com-
pelled to turn about and flee with great loss, and to
abandon the field to the conqueror. In the confusion
Pappenheim came up with sixteen troops of horse, near
the city of Leipzig, and having mounted a fresh horse,
led these again forward against the Swedes for a final
effort ; but the attempt not succeeding, he marched
them away from the field, and conducted them to
Mansfeld, where he first heard of the defeat of the
army, and of the Generalissimo, who was reported to
have been killed in the battle.
We do not hear of Pappenheim again until the King
was at Mayence, carrying on his negotiations with
France, when, either not knowing of the truce that
had been established, or disregarding it, he is found
in the ranks of the Spanish army that marched up to
the assistance of the Catholic League. He afterwards
commanded an army of the League in Lower Saxony,
where he came across the troops of the Landgrave of
Hesse Cassel, and gave them some disagreeable checks
here and there ; and, being ubiquitary at this period,
he dexterously availed himself of the misunderstanding
among the commanders that very nearly detached the
King of Denmark from the Swedish alliance. He
afterwards gave battle to the Swedish General Todt, and
compelled him to raise the siege of Stadcn. into which
COUNT TON PAPPENHEIM. 231
place he introduced three regiments, who succeeded in
getting across the river Schwinga hy some portable
bridges of his own invention. It must be remembered,
that all this time there was in fact no Imperial army.
A very singular incident regarding Pappenheim Pappcn-
comes about this time into story from the pages of tem.)t(^ to
Harte's History of Gustavus Adolphus ; — no less than join the
an offer from the Infanta Governess of the Netherlands >-Pamsn
army.
to tempt him from the Imperial service into that of
Spain by great pecuniary advantages, supposed to have
equalled £16,000 sterling, together with the order of
the Golden Fleece. It does not appear that any pre-
vious application had been made to the Court of Vienna
upon the subject ; but that it was addressed to the
General direct, when in command of the Imperial army
near Hanover. It would appear as if men in command
of armies in those days acted quite upon their own
discretion ; so that, turning a deaf ear to the requests
of the Elector of Bavaria, and treating with contempt
the commands of Tdly or Wallenstein, Pappenheim
thought he saw a new path opened to his ambition by
the Infanta's proposal, and forthwith acted upon it.
Having, therefore, put good garrisons in the strongest
towns at his devotion, he left a part of his army under
Gronsfeld to preserve the circles of Lower Saxony and
Westphalia in their obedience, and, with 12,000 foot
and 3000 horse, he marched off to Cologne, collecting
contributions for their support as he proceeded through
the district of Dortmund and Essen. The Elector
connived at his entrance into his capital city, which
gave him a passage across the Rhine ; and thence,
without meeting with any interruption, he proceeded
through Aachen, and crossed the Meuse at Sittart.
The Prince of Orange was near Maestricht ; and
General Pappenheim essayed to join himself with a
Spanish army, under Don Gonsalvo di Cordova and the
Marquis de Santa Croce, in order to fall upon the
Dutch army. After a march which, from its rapidity
and success, could hardly be paralleled, it was not with-
232 (.ODFEEV HENRY,
out considerable mortification that he found these two
solemn and punctilious grandees resolved to postpone
their master's honour to their own personal conse-
quence. It was death to their Castilian pride to find
a general coming out of the East ready to fight, — which
was not at all their intention, — and assuming to super-
sede them there in their independent command. They
responded to his proposals coldly, and with an air of
irony observed, "that their Catholic Master did not
require ' reiters and lasquenets ' ' to pave their way into
Maestricht." Pappenheim felt their insolence, and saw
into what a snare he had fallen ; but he resolved at any
rate to attempt something, even although it should
prove his utter inability to perform a greater feat.
He examined the Dutch position on the Wych, and
early in the morning of the 7th August he set in order
his little army to break through it sword in hand. A
forlorn hope of 100 picked men, armed with swords and
carbines, carried in their hands fascines and ladders,
and were accompanied by a body of pioneers with
spades and pickaxes. Two regiments in array formed
the support ; and the rest, infantry and cavalry, fol-
lowed in compact order. No general had ever made a
finer disposition for its purpose than this advance to an
attack of a strong position by Pappenheim, who moved
himself among the foremost, under such a fire from
the Dutch works of artillery and musketry, as would
have been deemed by most soldiers insupportable. But
no courage could succeed against great odds both of
armed men and strong intrenchments, when the Spanish
army, 26,000 strong, kept close to their works, and did
not budge an inch to save their comrade. At length,
after more than ten hours' desperate service, and
after eight or ten fruitless attacks, the Imperialist
General was forced to sound a retreat, pitying his
faithful and attached Germans, and pouring forth bitter
invectives against the malevolent and insolent Casti-
1 Two old words for German cavalry and infantry.
COUNT VON PAPPENHEIM. 233
lians. He left 2000 of his best soldiers dead on the
field, and most of his most valued officers were killed
or maimed. Indeed both Pappenheim himself and the
horse he rode were wounded in many places ; but Prince
Henry, who commanded the Dutch army, was con-
tented with his escape, and did not deem it safe to
pursue him a single step. However, it was useless
for Pappenheim to pursue any further military ope-
rations in the Low Countries, under the circum-
stances in which he found himself; and at the end
of six weeks he had again returned to Westphalia,
where Gronsfeld greatly needed his assistance. This
campaign of Pappenheim beyond the Rhine deserves
more consideration than it appears to have received
(for it is not noticed, I think, in Schiller's History),
because it is probable that the Golden Fleece, and the
favour of the Infanta Isabella haunted his imagination
very strongly when, on the eve of the battle of Lutzen,
he obtained permission from Wallenstein to march away
from the projected winter-quarters in Misnia, to hasten
to Halle, on his march back to Cologne. There is reason
to believe, however, that Pappenheim was not a man to
have been swayed by money and honours ; but he fancied
he saw a new path opened to glory, that might enable
him the better to rival the reputation of Gustavus,
Tilly, and Wallenstein.
But, not to anticipate events, it has first to be Pappen-
related that, after refreshing his army, now reinfoi-ced e™ e,.ec s
with that of Gronsfeld, he resolved to attack Bauditzen, with Wal-
whom he compelled to cross the Weser on the 20th leustein-
September ; and, following after him, compelled also the
Duke of Lunenburg to raise the siege of Wolfenbuttel.
The Confederate generals had been every where making
great progress during his absence ; and both the Elector
of Bavaria and Wallenstein had expedited many ex-
presses, which met him on the road, urging his presence
in the Imperial camp near Nuremberg. He therefore
passed through Hildesheim, — where he exacted a heavy
contribution, —and pushed on to Mulhausen, which he
231 GODFEEI EENBT,
also laid under tribute. J I is march was perilous and
extraordinary ; for lie was constantly in the vicinity of
Swedish generals and adherents, who, however, durst
not attempt to stop the impetuous career of the Im-
perialist General. At length he came up with Wallen-
stein's army, with which he effected a junction at
Mersehurg on the 28th October.
The high military reputation of Pappenheim, and
the extraordinary power he possessed, through his bold,
strong sense, of influencing men in military affairs,
overcame the sullen reserve and habitual impractica-
bility of Wallenstein, and induced that great leader to
adopt a new system of operations : — this was, to cross
the Saale without delay, and to occupy "Weimar and
Erfurt, and the principal debouches out of the forest
of Thuringia. But before this undertaking could be
carried out, news was brought that the King of Sweden
had already arrived with his army on the banks of the
Saale. The Generalissimo forthwith sent couriers to
recall 10,000 troops, who had been sent under Galas
towards Bohemia, and took other measures to collect
an army of 40,000 men, with no contemptible train
of heavy artillery ; for he did not apprehend that
Gustavus Adolphus, who had brought up with him no
more than 18,000 men, would have the confidence to
undertake the offensive against such a force, which
had a perfect choice of ground on which to intrench
themselves.
Pappen- It would seem that the Government of the Infanta
Isabella had in some degree explained away, or apolo-
gized for, the conduct of the Spanish generals ; or, at
any rate, that fresh offers had been made to Pappen-
heim to induce him to transfer his army once again to
maintain a check upon the Dutch aggressions, which
now threatened the important city of Cologne, and its
bridge upon the Rhine. Otherwise it is scarcely pos-
sible to understand what could have influenced Pap-
penheim, at the particular juncture that followed
the foregoing advice to the Generalissimo, to put
1 n-i m takes
Halle,
COUNT VON PAPPENHEIM. 235
the Imperial army into winter-quarters, and to per-
mit him to march away with a great portion of it
with orders to take possession of Maritzhurg, in the
territory of Halle, and to proceed with all haste to
secure possession of the Electoral city. At all events,
Pappenheim marched away on the 4th November, and
took possession of the town of Halle. Wallenstein
was utterly thunderstruck at the audacious movement
of Gustavus against him on the 5th ; for, after sending
away Pappenheim's army, he had little more than
12,000 men to oppose to the King's 20,000. Mes-
sengers were, however, hastily sent to recall the detach-
ment ; and, as Halle was only five German miles distant,
the Generalissimo thought he could maintain his ground
in the wide plain between the Canal and Lutzen until
the return of the detached force.
It happened untowardly, that when Wallenstein' s Pappen-
messenerers found Pappenheim at Halle, his foot soldiers neiin ^
° * * ' mortally
had dispersed round about that town and Merseburg in wounded
quest of plunder ; so that in the emergency of the in action-
moment he could only assemble his cuirassiers and
dragoons, who did not all together exceed 7000 com-
batants ; but at their head he at once galloped at full
speed for Lutzen, to share in the battle. He arrived in
time to witness the flight of 1000 German cavalry, who
had been seized with a panic, and were in the act of
being pursued by Gustavus Horn when Pappenheim
met them. With ready presence of mind he rallied
the flying troops, and led them once more against
the enemy. Carried away by his wild bravery, and
impatient to encounter the King (of whose death he
was not yet apprised, and whom he supposed to be
opposite the Imperial right wing), he burst furiously
upon the Swedish ranks, which, exhausted by victory,
and inferior in numbers, were after a noble resistance
overpowered by this fresh body of assailants. Pappen-
heim's unexpected appearance revived the drooping
courage of the Imperialists ; for the name of that com-
23G
mander was sufficient to revive their ardour at any
moment of danger, since, though the succour lie brought
was short in numbers, his cavalry was the best seasoned
of all that served under the ensigns of the League.
The Duke of Friedland quickly re-formed his line, and
might be seen with cool intrepidity riding tlirough the
ranks amidst showers of balls. Piccolomini, at the
head of other Imperial cavalry, with equal intrepidity,
had seven horses shot under him, and was pierced with
six balls. But while Pappenhehn was making his dis-
positions at the head of the right wing, he received a
stroke from a falcon-shot, that shattered his thigh.
The wound stunned him for a few moments ; but when
he recovered his senses, he instantly perceived that it
was the stroke of death. A coach conveyed him out
of the battle, and his chaplain, whom he immediately
sent for, attended him to the Castle of Pleissenberg in
Leipzig.
His last He sent an adjutant to Wallenstein, with this com-
wonls and manaV " Tell him that what I have received is enough
death
for my purpose ; but tell him also that I have pre-
served the Catholic religion, and rendered the Emperor
a freeman." He had heard on his road a murmur that
ran through the ranks, that he whom he had so eagerly
sought to meet was already dead on the plain. When
the truth of the report was confirmed to him, his look
became brighter, and his dying eye sparkled with a
last gleam of joy. " You may add to the Duke of
Friedland," said he to his adjutant, " that I lie without
hope of life ; but that I die happy, since I know that
the implacable enemy of my religion has fallen the
same day." He then faced death with the same tran-
quillity in his bed as he had done on innumerable occa-
sions on the field of battle ; and having been born in
the same year with Gustavus, he now sank, having
only exceeded his great rival in age by about six months
and a few days. It is said, that while lying on his bed
in the last agonies of life, the wonderful mark on the
COUNT VON PAPPENIIEIM. 237
forehead of the General, which the superstition of his
co-religionists had noticed in his cradle, came out again
with renewed and singular clearness.
Pappenheim was not only a contemporary of Gus- His cha-
tavus, hut he affected to resemble him in all things, racter-
— in the similitude of his nativity and horoscope, in the
manner of adjusting his hair, in riding a white palfrey,
as well as in bravery and judgment ; but, what was
indeed more difficult, he did indeed resemble the King
of Sweden in good morals and piety. Schiller calls him
" the Telamon of the army, the bravest soldier of Aus-
tria and the Church." He was a wonderful soldier ;
ever foi'emost in the charge and crisis of a battle ; and
his body was, as has been related, gashed and seamed by
above a hundred wounds. He received fourteen wounds
in the two battles of Leipzig and Prague alone ; and he
had shared in forty-four other battles and rencounters.
He was most in his glory at the head of a charge of
■ cavalry. He obtained from the Emperor the title of
Count, with the addition of " Illustrissimo," for his
services, and should have received the order of the
Golden Fleece, which had been promised him for his
expedition into the Netherlands. Gustavus Adolphus
always held Pappenheim in the greatest respect, not
only for his personal intrepidity, but for his inventive
genius in marches, attacks, and stratagems.
Gustavus and Pappenheim were the most moral and His high
religious persons in the respective armies ; and it may mo}'a} an<*
safely be affirmed, in opposition to a very popular principles,
notion to the contrary, that the religious and good Effect of
man stands the best chance to be the bravest too. theSmih-°n
Moderation, humanity, decorum, order, and, above all, tary cha-
the efficiency of a good example, are unquestionably racter-
military virtues and qualities that should be prescribed
to the profession of a warrior. "Wicked men, doubtless,
have been often found very brave, yet such can never
contemplate death as seriously and composedly as one
who regards it with resignation and (I may add) reli-
23S GODFItV.Y IIKNI;\. COUNT vox pappentteim.
gious faith. A courage prompted by passion onl\-, and
not by the judgment, must be hurried and agitated
more or less. The fire will be fierce, but not clear ; and
the excitement counterworks that presence of mind,
which is, after all, the greatest attribute in any leader2.
The famous Prussian General, Zieten, was also a
bright example of a religious hero. His piety was nei-
ther mechanical nor servile : his sentiments upon all re-
ligious subjects were pure and simple. He considered it
as the homage of the creature to the Supreme Creator,
not in the craven spirit of seeking to appease the
Divine wrath, or of truckling to Providence for some
personal preservation or advantage. As long as his
health permitted, he was a constant frequenter of
public worship, and at no time was he neglectful
of the duty of private prayer ; so that, when once
twitted by a young prince for his methodism, he re-
plied in the wrords addressed to Conde by De Navailles,
" Your Highness, I fancy, sees now that those who
pray to God behave as well in a battle as their neigh-
bours." There is, nevertheless, nothing that is good
for us, in any degree, that may not degenerate into
abuse or absurdity. Dr. Moore, the traveller, relates
the practice adopted in one of the small German courts
to brine: the devotions of the soldier under the direc-
tion of the superior officer. The following is given as
part of the military manoeuvres at the guai'd mounting
at Manheim : " The major flourishes his cane : the
drum gives a single tap, and every man under arms
raises his hand to his hat. At the second stroke of
the drum they take off their hats, and are supposed to
pray. At a third they are considered to have finished
their petitions, and put on their hats ; but if any man
has the assurance to protract his prayer a minute
longer than the drum indicates, he is punished on the
spot, and taught to be less devout for the future."
2 Hartc; Schiller; Biographie Universelle.
ALBBECHT VON WALDSTEIN,
WALSTEIN,
OB WALLENSTEIN,
AN IMPERIAL GENERAL, DUKE OF FRIEDLAND,
SAGAN, GLOGAU, AND MECKLENBURG.
Bora 1583. Died 1631.
This renowned and extraordinary man was the son of His birth,
a Moravian Baron, and was born at his father's Castle Parenta*e>
. . and eai'ly
of Hermamc, m that province, and came of the ancient education.
race of Waldstein, well known in the annals of the
kingdom of Bohemia. His mother belonged to a
family which had adopted the principles of the Refor-
mation, and doubtless Albrecht was a Protestant up to
his fourteenth year, when, having lost both father and
mother, he was admitted into the Jesuits' College at
Olmutz, where he was perverted to the Roman faith.
He began life as a page to the Markgraf of Burgau,
son of the Archduke, who was afterwards the Emperor
Ferdinand, and was remarkable in his youth for a
240 AT/BRECTTT VOS WALDSTETN.
stubborn, proud, and aspiring disposition, and would
say, " If I am not a prince, I may become one ;" and it
is related of him, that while at the University of Goldben,
he fell from one of the highest windows at the top of
the building, without receiving any injury; and that
this extraordinary escape influenced all his conduct in
life, for he early entertained the strongest presentiment
of his future greatness. This had the effect of generating
extreme presumption in his mind, and the most reck-
less extravagance in his habits of life. He commenced
his military career upon the staff of the famous Spanish
adventurer, George Basta, maestro di ca/m/po generaJc,
in Hungary, 1G05-6, where he made the acquaintance,
when he was about twenty-three years of age, of the
Frau Wiezkova, a very wealthy widow, to whom he
paid his addresses, and after a short courtship married.
But in a fit of jealousy she administered to him a
"philter," or love potion, from which he narrowly
escaped death. They continued to live together, how-
ever, till 1614, when she died, and left him all her pro-
perty, which was very considerable.
His first The love of enterprise in "Wallenstein was such, that
campaign. ne raised a body of horse at his own expense, and fol-
lowed the Archduke Ferdinand at the head of it in a
war against the Venetians, in which he assisted at the
battle of Gradisca, in Friuli. Here the abilities which
he displayed obtained for him great reputation. He
was afterwards employed as Major-General in Moravia,
where he defeated a Hungarian army. He was subse-
quently invited to the capital of the Emperor Ma-
thias, who created him a Count of the Empire. It
was at this period that he made a second and equally
advantageous marriage with the Countess Harrack, a
lady of immense fortune, whose affluence was, neverthe-
less, exceeded by her beauty, piety, and virtue. Her
father was Prime Minister and Grand Mareschal of
the Court of the Emperor, and the hereditary master
of the horse. Wallenstein now applied the great
ALBRECHT VON WALDSTEIN. 241
wealth he had obtained in the purchase of confiscated
properties ; and, it is said, that either from some
occult alchymy, or from the knowledge he had ac-
quired of metallurgy, he was enabled to pay for these
properties to considerable advantage by the adultera-
tion of the coin, by which he obtained large profits
in the exchange. At all events, he gained fabulous
wealth, and now began to associate, by means of bis
wife's relations, with the highest nobles of the Empire.
On the first breaking out of the war in Bohemia, in
1618, his popularity in his native country was such,
that he was offered the post of General to the Bohe-
mian forces ; but he declined their proposal, and
adopted the side of his Sovereign, in whose family he
had been brought up. The Emperor Ferdinand had
entered upon the war with no very great military pre-
parations, and no experience ; but he had succeeded
with little difficulty in putting down the Bohemian
rebellion, which Maximilian of Bavaria had indeed
effected with the aid of his renowned General Tilly, as
Executor of the Ban of the Empire. But it ill accorded
with the grand schemes entertained by the Emperor
Ferdinand, who was at once monarch and bigot, to own
the superiority of a vassal ; and he felt that a strong
army under his own orders could alone free him from
further dependence on Bavaria, and restore to him his
pre-eminence in Germany. Under these circumstances
nothing could be more welcome than the proposal which
was at this time made to him by Wallenstein. He
offered to raise a body of troops for the Emperor, upon
condition that he was made a Field- General, which was
at that period a very great post, having a Lieutenant-
General under him ; and he undertook to raise, clothe,
and arm from 40,000 to 50,000 men at his own expense
and that of his friends. The project was ridiculed by
the nobles of the Court, as the chimerical suggestion
of a presumptuous visionary ; but the proposal was
gladly accepted by the Emperor, who assigned to him
R
212 ALBBECHI YON WALDSTEIN.
certain circles as depots for this armament, and gave
him authority to appoint his own officers. Indeed
Ferdinand was glad enough to give this armament
nothing hut his name. In a few months Wallenstein
led an Imperial army of 20,000 men into the field, the
first that had home such a name in reality during this
war ; but it was almost as menacing to the members
of the Catholic League as it was to the Protestant
Union. The great reputation that Wallenstein sought
to obtain for himself, was the attainment of supreme
power, and the hope of wealth by plunder. This latter
attracted to his standard adventurers from all quarters
of Germany ; and even the Sovereign Princes, stimulated
by the desire of glory or gain, offered to raise regiments
after his example, for the service of the house of Haps-
burg. Wallenstein soon appeared in the field with a
force augmented to 30,000 men ; and understanding that
the Viennese had been incited to revolt, and had even
forced then* way into the Kaiser's palace to demand the
free exercise of their religion, the new Generalissimo, as
soon as he received information of this proceeding, came
down to Ferdinand's relief with great activity. The war
soon rolled back into Bohemia ; and Wallenstein was
attached to the united armies of the Emperor and
Duke of Bavaria, with instructions to serve under
Count Tilly's orders. But already he showed great
jealousy of that eminent commander's fame, and evinced
no disposition to share with him the laurels of the
campaign ; nor was he contented, in the splendour of a
rival's achievements, to becloud his own. He therefore
resolved to act entirely independently of Tilly, but to
support the general scheme of the campaign according
to his own ideas. Accordingly, he was not present at
the battle of Prague in 1G20, when the Elector Pala-
tine was driven out of his newly-acquired kingdom of
Bohemia; but he went with his army into Moravia,
where, on the 18th October, 1621, he gained a victory at
Kremser; and in 1623 he proceeded against Gabor, Prince
ALBEECHT VOX WALDSTEEN". 243
of Transylvania, whom he soon reduced to submission.
As he had not resources, like Tilly, for supplying the
wants of his army of volunteers, he was obliged to hold
his ground in the midst of fertile countries, which had
not been ravaged by the war ; and it was from the vast
gains he obtained in the first three years' service in the
field, that he was enabled to purchase at a fifth of its
value the Duchy of Friedland, which the Emperor in
reward for his services confirmed to him by grant.
The wealth which the war had already obtained for His luxuri-
Wallenstein was expended most profusely, and the ^private
most incredible stories are current respecting his ex- his mode of
travagant style of living. He loved the splendour of gratlfyin£
a magnificent table, but restrained himself to strict
moderation both in eating and drinking. Indeed he
mostly affected to eat alone ; for it was a maxim with
him, that a Commander-in-Chief should never fami-
liarize himself with his Generals ; yet he copied Scipio
in rewards, as he did Hannibal in punishments : but
while he employed many severities and peculiarities,
he had a generosity beyond what appeared in any sub-
ject. His munificence was supported by an income
estimated at three millions of florins yearly, obtained
from many sources. He purchased at small cost the
properties he himself confiscated. He had learned the
lesson from the Protestant General Mansfeld, " that
war should be made to support war ;" but the scholar
soon surpassed his master. If Mansfeld and the
Duke of Brunswick had provided for their armies by
contributions levied indiscriminately on friend or foe,
what might not be obtained when the army raised was
numerous enough to overawe the most powerful vassals
of the empire, and when the name of the Emperor
ensured immunity to every outrage ? Wallen stein found
that the more he augmented his army, the less he
had to fear for their subsistence ; for the whole of
Germany became a general magazine for the Imperial
troops. Universal was the clamour to the Imperial
E 2
1>|1 LLBEECHT VON WALDSTEIW.
throne for redress ; but the general discontent was at
first equally against the Emperor, who had lent his
name to these barbarities, as against the General who
had exceeded his commission in enforcing them. But
the latter no sooner felt himself powerful and absolute,
than he threw off his obedience to his Sovereign. As
soon, however, as breathing-time was obtained, the
Princes of the Catholic party, assembled at the Diet of
Katisbon, began openly to express displeasure at the
ostentation and influence of the Duke of Friedland,
whom they regarded as an upstart and an ambitious
adventurer. Many of those who had suffered from the
devastations of his licentious army increased the cry ;
moreover, the priests were to a man against hmi. His
elevation of sentiment, and clearness of understanding,
had perhaps exalted him above the religious prejudices
of his age, and the Jesuits never forgive an aspiring con-
vert. He had been their scholar, and had seen through
their system, which he now openly contemned. He
regarded the Pope as no more than Bishop of Kome,
and would not trouble himself at all as to the Papal
dogmas, excepting with a haughty disdain.
Leads the The difficulties of the Emperor were increasing in
Imperial- 1625, and he was again under the necessity of appeal-
the m ng of ing to his mighty subject, the Duke of Friedland, for
Denmark, his co-operation, who forthwith, at his earnest entreaty,
came into the field, at the head of two armies of 50,000
men each. This enormous force had been raised and
maintained without burthening the Emperor's private
resources with a single florin. He received orders to
unite his forces with the troops of the League, and, in
conjunction with Tilly, to attack the King of Denmark,
in the north- west of the empire. His personal aversion
to the Bavarian General-in-Chief still continued ; and
disobeying, therefore, the order to form a junction with
Tilly, he marched into the territories of Halberstadt
and Magdeburg, and established his head-quarters at
Dessau, where the possession of the bridge over the
ALBEECHT VON WALDSTEIN. 245
Elbe enabled liirn to carry on the war on whichever
side of that river he might prefer, either to attack the
Danish King in rear of the quarters of his assembled
army, or, if more desirable, to enter the territories of
that Sovereign. Christian IV. was at this juncture King
of Denmark, and saw with dismay his dangerous posi-
tion between the two armies of Tilly and Wallenstein,
which induced him to call up the celebrated Mansfeld
to his assistance. This able General of the Confederate
Princes immediately fell upon Wallenstein, and so un-
expectedly, that at first he obtained possession of the
bridge of Dessau, although he failed in his attempt to
burn it. But the tables were soon turned, and Mans-
feld was forced to retreat. He, however, continued
to keep at bay the Imperialist army, and to prevent its
junction with Tilly's ; which was not a difficult opera-
tion, seeing that the enemy's general desired it as much
as himself. Mansfeld, with prudent boldness, went so
far as to intrench himself in presence of the Imperial
lines ; so that Wallenstein sent General Aldringer
against him, when a severe fight ensued, which ended
in the Confederate General being obliged to abandon
his post, with the loss of 3000 killed. Mansfeld on
this withdrew into Brandenburg, where he soon re-
cruited and reinforced his army, and suddenly returned
to fall upon Moravia and Silesia, with a view of pene-
trating into Hungary, and there forming a junction
with Bethlem Gabor 1. Tilly therefore fell upon King
1 This man's history constantly comes across our biographies,
and it may be interesting to know something of him. His true
name was Gabriel Bethlem, but the Transylvanians place the sur-
name after the Christian, and Gabor means Gabriel. He figures
continually in the history of the Thirty Years' War, yet never
with any effect, but was a very remarkable character. He passed
his life in arms from the seventeenth year of his age, and had
been in forty -two battles. He was affable, polite, and intriguing,
ambitious, artful, reserved, and treacherous, — served all, sold all,
and betrayed all. He had risen from the simple rank of a gen-
tleman to the attainment of the Government of Transylvania by
24G
\l.i:UECHT VON WALDSTEIN.
Christian, who was now isolated, but had occupied the
bishoprics of Munster and Osnaburg, threatening a
further inroad into the territories of the League. To
check these movements, Tilly removed the seat of the
war to the banks of the Weser; and Wallenstein was
ordered to pursue Mansfeld, who, being disappointed
of the assistance of some reinforcements promised by
England, had with only 30,000 men succeeded with
considerable address to secure himself behind the river
Bober, there to await the assistance of Gabor, whose
ardour however had begun to cool with the adversities
of the Protestant cause ; and he had, as usual, made
his own terms. Mansfeld, therefore, cut off from Ger-
many, and unable to maintain his army in Hungary,
sold his artillery and baggage, and, disbanding his
soldiers, fled with a few adherents towards Italy, where
he died.
Wallenstein' s army being in 1627 without an adver-
sary in the hereditary dominions, was recalled to Tilly's
assistance in the North of Germany, and marched
straight for Holstein, to threaten the King of Dcn-
sists\ho mark's dominions. Along with other field-works, which
Dunbar,
with a
Scottish
detach-
ment,
Imperial-
ists.
Christian had thrown up to impede the advance of the
Imperialists, was a bridge-head on the left bank of the
Elbe, near Boizenburg. This bridge-head was garri-
soned by four companies of Scottish infantry, under
driving the Prince Bathori out of it in 1613 ; but maintained a
constant hostility to the Emperor, which he turned considerably
to his profit ; first by assuming the crown of Hungary in 1618,
and then bartering it back again for Imperial concessions, obtain-
ing, amongst other grants, the famous vineyard of Tokay. He
died 1618, in his fifty-ninth year, having passed his whole ex-
istence in one continual storm of his own creating. His restless
and turbulent spirit never allowed him to be idle for a single
year. He was always fishing in troubled waters, and no treaty
could bind him, nor any amount of money ever secure him. He
would constantly change sides, either for the sake of changing,
or for the sake of making a better bargain, without the least
scruple or a particle of principle.
ALBEECHT VON WALDSTEIN. 247
the command of one Major Dunbar, who so effectually
defended themselves, that they forced the Imperial
General to raise the siege after three fruitless assaults.
The Scots, it is said, contested these assaults, in default
of bayonets, which had not yet been introduced, with
musket-fire, as long as their powder lasted ; and then
they threw sand into the faces of the assailants, and
slung stones, consummating their vigorous defence
with the butt ends of their muskets. The same Major
Dunbar was domiciled with his Scotsmen for their
quarters in Breitenburg Castle, belonging to the ancient
family of Rantzau, in Holstein, which still retained the
appearance, and something also of the strength, of the
old baronial castles of the middle ages. It was then
surrounded by an old, ill-flanked wall, and by a ditch ;
which latter was, however, partially filled up. Here,
nevertheless, he endured a six-days' cannonade, followed
by an assault on the seventh day ; and the defenders,
acting under the energy of almost despair — for they
well appreciated the consequences of capture — resisted
in a hand-to-hand encounter, and made a most deter-
mined resistance 2.
In the interval Wallenstein had overrun the princi- Wallen-
pality of Sagan, in the valley of the Bober, in Silesia; stein
and, having laid it waste, obtained a grant of it from King of
the Emperor. In the following year, 1628, he repaired Denmark :
to Vienna, and demanded further, that, if he could con- own'Sao.!S
quer the dominions of the King of Denmark, he might grandize-
receive that also as a kingdom. The Emperor objected ment-
to this, that the Danish crown was too precarious a
possession ; and Wallenstein was probably put off by
the Imperial councillors from any definite concession of
a request which, at that moment, was both premature
and impolitic ; and he rejoined his army, when, per-
suading Tilly to watch the country on either side of
the Elbe, he poured all his forces upon the Danish
2 Mitchell.
*o AIiBBEOHT VON WALDSTEIN.
King, iii order that he might the more speedily crush
him, and reap for himself the personal advantages he
yet hoped to obtain. Wallenstein unscrupulously re-
quired from the districts of Brandenburg and Mecklen-
burg, which he had overrun, large resources in men,
money, and provisions, so that with these contributions
he made his Imperial army very strong, and got it into
the most perfect order. If credit is to be given to
the statements of contemporary writers, Wallenstein
had already, during his seven years' command, exacted
not less than sixty thousand millions of dollars from
the provinces of Germany. The greater his extortions,
the greater the rewards to his followers. Numberless
commissions to colonelcies and to inferior commands,
immoderate largesses to his favourites (for it was his
custom never to give a less sum than 1000 florins),
increased his influence enormously ; and he lavished yet
larger sums in corrupting the members of the Imperial
Court, while he yet at the same time maintained his
condition of Commander-in-Chief with regal pomp.
Every thing was done hitherto, it is true, in the name
of the Emperor ; for the object of Wallenstein was con-
sistently to depress the Princes, to crush the authority
of the minor states, and to elevate the Imperial power
above all competition. Lf the Emperor could be ren-
dered absolute, who would be able to dispute the will
of the man who swayed the execution of his will at the
head of a powerful and devoted army ? His soldiers
adored such a leader ; for they nourished, whHe all the
princes, and nobles, and peasantry of the countries
through which he passed, withered. He allowed no
precedence of quality throughout his army, not even
from the Princes, but ordered each officer to take his
place according to his military rank and station. His
arrogance was such, that he would even reject an officer
who came to him with an Imperial recommendation in
his pocket, unless he was prepared to acknowledge the
favour as from himself. The height to which Wallen-
ALBBECHT TON WALDSTELN". 249
stein raised the Imperial authority astonished even the
Emperor ; but his design unquestionably was, that his
Sovereign should stand in fear of no one in all Germany
beside himself, the source and engine of his despotic
power. He cared nothing, however, himself for popu-
larity from his equals, and less for the detestation of
the people, or the complaints of the Sovereigns, but
was ready to bid a general defiance to all conse-
quences s.
As a step towards the further end of his ambition, Demands
Wallenstein now demanded of the Emperor the cession t»?rces,s!on
L ofMecklen-
of Mecklenburg, as a pledge for the repayment of the burg.
expenses of the war. In vain was this new demand
resisted by the Imperial Council ; the powerful influence
of the prosperous General had increased considerably,
and the support he had purchased from the Imperial
councillors had augmented it to such an extent, that,
in order to secure the devotion of so indispensable an
agent to his cause, Ferdinand, in 1628, expelled one of
the oldest German houses, in order that a creature of
his own raising might be enriched by the spoil of that
duchy.
The King of Denmark, knowing well the extent of Lays siege
Wallenstein' s ambition, who thus became his neigh- to stral"
, . . . . . sund.
bour, trembled in his capital. Wismar had been seized
and taken, and a firm footing was already obtained by
the powerful General on the shores of the Baltic ; but
Wallenstein found himself sadly inconvenienced by the
want of shipping to co-operate with him against Chris-
tian, who was enabled to bring considerable naval power
to defend his insular States, while the Imperial General
thirsted to carry the war even across to Jutland, and
to compel the King, in his capital of Copenhagen, to
sue for peace. Tilly had already advanced to the town
of Stade in the duchy of Bremen ; and Arnheim, at the
head of a Saxon force, under Wallenstein's command,
3 Schiller.
250 ALBRECIIT VON WALDSTEIN.
had seized the island of Pugen. The Generalissimo
therefore holdly sat down hefore Stralsund, whose
excellent harhour, and the short passage from it to the
Swedish and Danish shores, fitted it for an excellent
naval station for his object. The Duke of Friedland
therefore invested the town on the 23rd May, l(>2s.
Christian accordingly sent a sufficient garrison into it ;
and now animated the defence by his presence and his
vessels. Some ships of war, which had been sent by
Sigismund, King of Poland, to the assistance of the
Imperialist General, were sunk by the Danish fleet.
Wallenstein nevertheless strove to gain possession of
Stralsund in order to give the law by this intermediate
possession to both Denmark and Sweden, and especially
to invade the former. He therefore despatched Schwar-
zenberg to the Hanse Towns to demand some shipping,
but had been answered, that the said towns had in-
terests of their own to consult, and confederacies and
alliances with the neighbouring Princes, which pre-
cluded them from lending their aid to either side of
the quarrel. Wallenstein was angry that he could
not get ships enough even to blockade this single
harbour that he was besieging ; but he nevertheless
procured an Imperial patent to be Admiral of the
Baltic, and accordingly assumed the title of Gene-
ralissimo of the Emperor by Sea and Land. Some
biographers assert that Wallenstein, indignant at find-
ing that the sea now arrested his progress, ordered
red-hot shot to be fired into the rebellious element,
which appeared resolved to arrest his career of con-
quest. Such puerile acts are often related of mighty
conquerors, whose wills and passions, inflated by flat-
terers, often mislead their real abilities and sound
judgment.
Nothing could be deemed more adventurous than to
attempt the conquest of a strongly fortified seaport like
Stralsund, without the means of first blockading its
harbour. Put Wallenstein, who had never yet ex-
ALBEECHT VON WALDSTEEN.
perienced a check, expected, with the ordinary arro-
gance of such men, to conquer nature itself, and to
perform impossibilities ; so that he exclaimed, " I will
take this place, even though it were fastened by a chain
of adamant to the heavens." He now endeavoured by
artful and boastful menaces to supply his want of real
strength. He demanded winter-quarters, through Arn-
heim, his camp-master-general, for an immense increase
of soldiers. He poured regiments into Pomerania, like
swarms of locusts. He even sent Colonel Goetz into the
besieged town, to request a passage for only a small
body of troops; but the authorities, of course, saw through
the artifice, and refused the request. He even demanded
that Stralsund should receive an Imperial garrison ;
which was firmly, but with all due respect to the Em-
peror, rejected by the magistracy. After having ex-
hausted every wile without effect, he at length desired
Arnheim to invest the town ; but Stralsund, always
open to the sea, continued to be supplied, as before,
with provisions and reinforcements. Wallenstein, how-
ever, pushed on his assaults with all the fury and energy
that resentment could inspire ; and the Danes soon
found the defence of the place beyond their strength.
Gustavus, however, had taken an early opportunity of
sending some Swedish troops to its assistance ; and
Christian, in the end, cast the burden entirely upon the
King of Sweden's shoulders, who sent a body of his
Scotchmen, under Sir Alexander Leslie, as Governor ;
when for three months the siege was stoutly resisted,
and Wallenstein's good fortune seemed to have turned
the balance. The struggle was costly ; 12,000 Impe-
rialists had already fallen in the vain attempt, until the
Emperor, urged by some of the Princes, ordered his
General to retire from the siege. But Wallenstein
spumed the command, and continued to harass the
besieged with incessant assaults. The Swedes con-
tinued as gloriously to defend it as their Scandinavian
brethren had done before ; and the introduction of this
251
252 ALBEECllT VON WALDSTEIN.
soldiery into the war greatly facilitated the subsequent
arrival of Gustavus Adolphus himself upon the scene ;
and their heroic defence of Stralsund gave great encou-
ragement to the Confederates to seek the aid of Sweden
in the depth of their necessities.
The siege Wallenstein's tide of fortune now visibly forsook
of Steal- hjj-n anci ^jg pric]e a]so experienced a rude humiliation
sunrl raised. . r r
Wallen- by the necessity he was at length reduced to of relin-
stem nego- quishing his prey ; when, after many months' resistance,
Denmark. ne raised the siege on the 31st July. He had exposed
himself to many mortifications in the childish obstinacy
with which he had so fruitlessly persevered for many
months. In the eagerness to attain the object of the
moment, and in the characteristic impetuosity of his
character, it was not till he had relincpaished this main
point of his strategy, that he awoke to the necessary
policy of a Duke of Mecklenburg, to be at peace with
Denmark. The friendship of Christian IV., whose
neighbour Wallenstein had become by this new acqui-
sition, was in truth an essential element to his ambi-
tious views ; and therefore he covered his failure at
Stralsund by resolving, even at the sacrifice of his
Sovereign's interests, to secure his alliance. With this
view he entered into negotiations with Christian at
Lubeck in 1629. The King was bound by treaty not
to conclude any measures without the consent of
Sweden ; nevertheless, he accepted Wallenstein's pro-
posals. When however, with studied contempt, the
Imperialist Generalissimo insisted upon excluding from
this Congress the Swedish Ambassadors, who had in-
truded themselves into it undisguisedly to intercede
for Mecklenburg, Christian IV. broke with Sweden,
and very meanly and ingloriously retired from the
Confederate League at this juncture, giving up the
contest, making the best terms he could for himself,
and throwing over his relations and friends, the Elector
Palatine and the Duke of Mecklenburg, whom he un-
scrupulously left to their fate.
ALBEECHT VON WALDSTEIN. 253
Though his failure before Stralsund had somewhat The Em-
impaired the prestige of this great Commander, yet it Pe.ror J>~
was not in his military operations alone that unstable lenstein of
fortune now turned against him ; the hostility of the ^1S c°m~
Church was at this time opened upon Wallenstein with
all its most bitter determination to work his downfall ;
and it is the judgment of Schiller, " that no one ever
yet came to a fortunate end who quarrelled with the
Church." Wallenstein will be found in this respect, as
in many other matters, to have fulfilled the judgment
of the historian. The Jesuit party had been enabled,
without a great deal of difficulty, to make Ferdinand
jealous of the Generalissimo's fidelity ; and now that the
peace of Lubeck had delivered the Emperor from all
apprehensions from the North of Europe, and that he
saw the Protestant Princes entirely powerless and at
his feet, Ferdinand signed what was termed " the Edict
of Restitution " against them ; and listened at the same
time to the complaints which had arisen to a height
against his great subject, filling the Imperial ear with
the most fearful description of his outrages, and of his
contempt of all authority. Informed of the cabals
that were forming against him, the Duke of Friedland
adopted the boldest course. He thought to overawe
his enemies by his presence, and repaired in person to
Eatisbon, where the Emperor held the Diet. He was
accompanied to the sitting with a pomp that threw
that of his Imperial master quite into the shade, and
very much aggravated every existing prejudice against
him. The Duke of Mecklenburg, as he had now be-
come, soon discovered however that he was isolated,
and had not any trusty friends at the Diet. He there-
fore speedily returned to the head of his army, where
most of the officers were his creatures, and where, with
the common soldiers, " a nod was as good as a wink,"
for any purpose that he might resolve upon. The Princes
of the League, headed by the Elector of Bavaria, were
consequently left at liberty to mature a severe revenge
254 ALBRECUT VON WALDSTEIN.
on Wallenstein. They unanimously demanded from
Ferdinand his dismissal from the command of the army.
The Emperor remained long undecided. He felt how
much he might lose in yielding to the indignation of
the Princes a man who had armed him with much of
his supreme power. There was no doubt at all that he
owed his preponderance in the councils of the empire
almost solely to the power he had acquired by means of
the Duke of Friedland. But, as in all matters of State,
so there were other considerations to be regarded. His
son Ferdinand had been already chosen King of Hun-
gary ; and, in order to obtain for him the election of
his successor to the Empire, he was under the necessity
of conciliating the Electors. For this purpose he was
obliged to give weight to the influences extorted by
them for the removal of Wallenstein. Moreover, in
the complicated wiles of the policy of Cardinal Richelieu,
a Capuchin friar, named Father Joseph, found his way
to Ratisbon. The voice of a monk was to Ferdinand II.
the voice of God. Nothing on earth was more sacred
in his eyes than a Priest. The cup now overflowed, and
Wallenstein' s dismissal was resolved upon 4. But the
Generalissimo was at the head of an army of 100,000
men. As soon, therefore, as the sentence oihis dismissal
from command reached him at his head-quarters (which
was brought by two of his most intimate friends, to
soften the evil tidings), he had scarcely sufficient time
to carry out a bold resistance against it, even if he had
contemplated it. He saw his estates so scattered, that,
in the event of his disobedience, a single word from his
Sovereign for their confiscation might at once destroy
all the sinews of his power. Moreover, he read in the
stars that his brilliant career was not yet ended ; and
he was politician enough to calculate that the decision
adopted by Ferdinand at Ratisbon — of war with Sweden
— might bring Gustavus Adolphus as an enemy into
* Schiller.
ALBEECHT VON WALDSTEIN. 255
the field, which might soon render it indispensable to
recall his services for the defence of the Empire. He
therefore said to the messengers, " The Emperor is
betrayed. I grieve that His Majesty has had the weak-
ness to listen to evil counsel, and to sacrifice me ; but
I will obey." He then took leave of the emissaries
with costly presents, and transmitted his profession of
obedience in an humble letter to his Sovereign, in which
he dutifully besought the continuance of the Emperor's
favour.
But the dull repose of private life was any thing but Magnifi-
congenial to the ambitious mind of Wallenstein. In his ™?ace° and
retreat he sought other excitement, and surrounded htxurious-
himself with a pomp that appeared to mock the sen- P e?s-t
tence of degradation, and to cast his prosperity into
the teeth of his enemies. It is said that the palace
which he inhabited at Prague was constructed from the
spoils of a hundred palaces of Sovereigns and Princes,
which he had destroyed. Six gates conducted into its
court-yard ; to form which a hundred houses had been
pulled down and removed. The stables were gorgeous.
Each stall was an intercolumniation of pillars of the
richest and most beautiful marbles : the mangers were
of polished steel ; and before every horse his picture
was suspended on the wall. Gentlemen of the noblest
houses contended for the honour of serving him, and
even the chamberlains of the Emperor resigned their
gold keys to take similar office under Wallenstein. His
antechamber was occupied by fifty lifeguards, and he
maintained sixty pages of honour about his person.
His table never consisted of less than 100 covers ;
and his seneschal was a nobleman of rank. When he
travelled, he was followed by 100 fourgons, drawn by
four or six horses. He had fifty led horses, and his
personal suite filled sixty carriages. The pomp of his
liveries, the splendour of his ecmipages, and the deco-
ration of his apartments were in keeping with all this
display. A guard mounted at his gate, and patrols
pcarance.
25G ALBRECUT TON WALDSTEIN.
continually took their rounds about the palace, to pro-
vide for its security and quiet.
His per- It may be of some interest to know how such a man
m«„J[ looked who bad filled the world with so much renown.
In person he was a man of large stature ; but thin, and
of a sallow complexion. He had a high forehead,
under which were small sparkling eyes of commanding
fulness and respect. He had his hair always cut very
short ; but some say that it was red, and some that it was
black ; but he wore a thin moustache, and spare beard
and whiskers. The expression of his face was earnest,
thoughtful, and noble, but somewhat repulsive, from a
gloomy and forbidding seriousness that continually
sat upon his brow. His words were few, and he never
smiled : his aspect was dark, reserved, and impenetrable.
Thebusy genius that ever burned within required silence;
and the little that he spoke was short, harsh, and impe-
rious. He was singularly sensitive of noise, and had
some peculiarities that bordered strongly on madness.
As he rarely spoke in company, he kept his attention
fixed on other men's discourse, so that people said of
him he was " at once penetrating and impenetrable."
He was in truth more sparing of his words than of his
gifts ; and it was alone the magnificence of these last that
retained the trembling crowd of his dependents around
one of so unprepossessing an exterior. Yet he knew
how to win men by occasional affability. His manners
were the manners of his age — unrefined and rough, — but
he had mixed all his hfe in the society of the great,
and was the gentleman and soldier of the period, so
that in his accueil he never permitted himself to de-
part from true princely dignity. The coldness of his
temperament made him proof against all sensual seduc-
tions ; so that he was not deemed amorous : but he
carried himself in a certain tender way towards his wife,
Isabella von Harrach, by whom he had an oidy
daughter, rarely living with, or even writing to her,
but always talking affectionately of " My Duchess."
ALBBECIIT TON WALDSTEIN. 257
He cared not for the popularity of his adherents
and soldiers, looking principally to their fidelity and
devotion ; hut he was attracted hy merit in every class,
and was always promoting deserving, energetic men.
On the other hand, he required implicit obedience from
all, and deference from persons of distinction. He was
indeed rather disposed to look down upon many of this
latter class with contempt, especially those who ap-
peared to him to be mere court fools. In, this stately
obscurity of three years did Wallenstein silently, but
not unobservantly or inactively, await the " inevitable -^k-
hour " of his revenge. Gustavus Adolphus had in this
interval disembarked on the shores of the Baltic, and
had overrun the entire north of Germany, and before
him, at Leipzig, the flower of the Austrian forces
had fallen. The intelligence of this defeat soon reached
the ears of Wallenstein, condemned to irksome inaction,
while his rivals gathered laurels on the field of glory ;
yet while all without his castle bespoke calmness and
indifference, his mind was brooding over the most
illusive projects of ambition. The Emperor's ingrati-
tude had effaced from his mind all record of past
favours. The blow which at the Diet of Ratisbon had
humbled him, showed him the difference between de-
puted and acquired power ; and from that moment it
was the all-engrossing desire of his soul to obtain
power for himself. Fortune had denied him nothing
that a subject or a citizen could lawfully enjoy ; but the
difference was yet extreme between a subject and a
Sovereign ; and he sighed for the opportunity of wield-
ing an independent sword, and of uniting it with an
absolute sceptre.
"With some political sagacity, but with a quicker eye Wallen-
to his own aggrandizement, he addressed by letter a fte™ ^tes
ob ^ . J. to the Em-
suggestion to the Emperor to gain over the King peror.
of Denmark to the cause of the League by negotia-
tion, which, as has been above related, he had himself
broached in his quality of Duke of Mecklenburg. Fer-
258 ALBEECHT TON WAT/nSTET>".
dinand was as much pleased with the suggestion as
with the quarter from whence it came, and in the joy
of his heart replied in his own hand, " that he was
delighted to find that his dear friend did not forsake
him in the hour of difficulty." Indeed he carried his
condescension so far as to invite "his dear friend" to
Vienna, "to consult him on various important points
concerning the war ;" hut this did not at all accord
with the views of his astute and amhitious corre-
spondent. He put the Danish treaty in the train that
led to the Congress of Lubeck ; but, having pointed out
what he considered the most judicious mode of arrest-
ing the progress of the Swedish King, he appeared to
rest in his retirement indifferent to the war, and to
despise the combinations of such remote and inconsider-
able relations B.
Offers to On the death of Tilly, in 1G32, and the advance of
side with Gustavus Adolphus across the Rhine, the meditations
the Kino; _ * ....
of Sweden, of his mind began to bear fruit, although still as yet
only in the dark corners of his imagination. The great
Hero was not yet reconciled in his heart with the
Emperor, who had personally aggrieved and insulted
him ; and he hated the
" Monks and Priests, and all their trumpery,"
whom he knew to be his enemies, and that they held
in their trammels with unyielding grasp the conscience
of the superstitious and ultra-Roman Sovereign, who
had treated him with such an ungrateful return for his
services. Wallenstein therefore did not lose a moment
in turning to the rising influence of Gustavus Adol-
phus. He was perfectly indifferent as to the party he
should serve in the struggle, and utterly reckless as to
which side he lent his sword to obtain his owrn ends.
(He therefore now prepared to throw aside his allegiance
to the Emperor and the Catholic League, and to accept
5 Mitchell.
ALBRECHT VON WALDSTEIN. 259
the cause of the King of Sweden and the Confederacy.
With this view he sought out the assistance of the
banished Count Thurn, his earliest adversary, to be the
bearer of his congratulations to the Swedish King on his
late brilliant success ; to whom he offered without scru-
ple the assistance of an army, to drive the Emperor alto-
gether out of Germany, and to conquer Bohemia and
Moravia ; only requiring that 15,000 Swedish troops
should be placed under his command, to be combined
with such forces as his own influence could assem-
ble. Gustavus was ready enough to receive such an
unexpected aid, and did not turn a cold answer to it ;
nevertheless, he hesitated to commit so much power to
the honesty of a man who felt no shame in openly
avowing himself a traitor ; and, after giving the subject
the fullest consideration, the Swedish Monarch excused
himself, on the plea that he could not venture to dimi-
nish his forces by separating from them so large a
detachment. He afterwards endeavoured to renew the
negotiation, but the favourable moment was past ; and
Wallenstein's offended pride was so wounded, that he
never forgave this slight put upon his offer 6.
Wallenstein had shot his bolt ; but he had other Repelledby
arrows in his quiver. Occupied with the government „e„ "j£
of his Duchies, his mind was never withdrawn for an Wallen-
instant from the great schemes he was forming for his s*?m seej.
personal revenge. He changed his residence back- ances.
wards and forwards between Prague and Gitschen, or
Gitchin, where he had a country house, to give occu-
pation to his restless spirit, and sent out trusty agents
6 It is right to state, that some historians deny altogether the
assertion, that Wallenstein entered at any time into secret corre-
spondence with the enemies of the Emperor, as being neither
probable nor proved. Nevertheless, Schiller asserts the fact in
his history, as above stated in the text ; and Harte records the
opinion of Voltaire, "that the conspiracy of Wallenstein is re-
ceived as an historical fact : and yet the world has been long
ignorant of what kind it was."
S 2
2G0 ALBRECHT TON WALDSTEIN.
every where to learn, with something like accuracy, the
changing incidents of the war. He had always main-
tained a good understanding with his old friend, Count
Arnheim, who was in command of the Saxon forces,
and who had been on his staff, and who was indeed
a great admirer of the hero, and devoted to him as a
soldier, heart and hand. Through him he sought to
bring about a personal alliance with the Elector of
Saxony, the rather at this moment, because he knew
him to be offended at the lofty pretensions of Gustavus
Adolphus, against whom Wallenstein now concentrated
a great portion of his bitterness. Moreover, it was now
the policy of the Duke of Friedland to raise up a third
party in Germany, which might place itself, through
the fortune of war, in his own hands, and at once
gratify his revenge against the ingratitude of the
Emperor, and the neglect of the Swedish Monarch ;
and in the ruin of both he sought to obtain the king-
dom of Bohemia, and his native province, Moravia.
It really was, indeed, with the same object that he had
acted so as to induce the King of Denmark to declare
war against Sweden, after the King had overrun and
reduced Pomerania. None of these negotiations, how-
ever, had any successful result ; for Gustavus Adolphus
continued, without any serious opposition, his successful
inroad into Germany. And when the Imperialist army,
under his old associate Tilly, was worsted at Breitenfeld,
in September, 1631, the Duke of Friedland's friends
and Bribed adherents in Vienna uttered loud complaints
at this disgraceful negligence ; and a thousand voices
sounded in the ears of the Emperor, " Had Wallen-
stein commanded, matters would never have come to
this 7."
The Empe- The immediate pressure of necessity finally over-
ror tries to
1 " All eyes were turned on one,
Their helper in distress. The Emperor's pride
Bowed itself down before the man he had injured."
Scuillek.
ALBRECHT VOU" WALDSTEIN. 261
came the consideration of mortified pride in Ferdinand ; regain
and, deeply sensible of his own personal humiliation in ste'm>s s"er.
the act, the Emperor empowered the friends of the vices : con-
Duke of Friedland to sound him as to his willingness Jj££°f J£"
to return to the command of the Imperial armies, tho latter.
Wallenstein was at this moment suffering from gout,
in his palace near Prague, and on this excuse, as
well as from necessity or policy, he again declined the
invitation to attend the Imperial Court. He had
sufficient self-command to conceal his inward ex-
ultation at the opening of the negotiation, and in
this moment of long-desired vengeance to assume
the mask of indifference. The Duke of Eggenhurg,
Baron de Questenberg, and Werdenberg, were the
Imperial deputies, who were authorized by the Em-
peror to make known his desire to have him back
at the head of his armies, and to offer him a
salary of 100,000 florins a month, with the supreme
command 8. But he long resisted the urgent entreaties
of these mediators. " Too long," he said, " had he
tasted the pleasures of ease and independence, to sacri-
fice to the vain phantom of glory the uncertain favour
of princes." But when the Saxon army was already
on its march towards Prague, Wallenstein removed
from the Bohemian capital with his whole court, and
repaired to Znaim, in Moravia, to be altogether out of
the way of this invasion. The progress of the enemy,
however, increased the pressure of Ferdinand's diffi-
culties, and the terrified Emperor sent the Duke of
Eggenhurg for the third and last time to persuade his
friend the Duke of Friedland to yield to his necessity.
But the wily Wallenstein said, " he never could trust
to a restoration to command which he owed to the
Emperor's necessity, and not to his sense of justice."
The Duke of Eggenhurg, at length driven to play a last
card, assumed a loftier tone, and threatened the Impe-
8 Such a salary would amount in sterling money to £108,000
per annum, which was an immense pay.
202 AUiUECllT YON WALDSTEIN.
rial resentment if the General longer persisted in his
refusal. " Ferdinand required his serviees as his bene-
factor ; and as Emperor he demanded them." — " What-
ever price Wallenstein might demand for his obedience,
the Kaiser would readily agree to ; but if he demurred
any longer, the weight of the Imperial indignation
should crush the refractory servant." The Duke of
Eriedland well knew that the whole of his extensive
possessions were open and utterly exposed to the power
of the Emperor, and was convinced that he had now
sufficiently tested the weakness and despair which dic-
tated the offer, and that as he had held back sufficiently
to attain, if indeed it were ever possible, to the summit
of his desires, his affected reluctance now appeared to
be overcome, and he made a show of yielding to the
persuasions of Eggenburg; but he insisted on some
conditions for his obedience, that might be written
down and settled before he accepted the command.
"The Duke of Friedland required the uncontrolled
command over all the German armies of Austria and
Spain, with unlimited power to reward and punish.
Neither the King of Hungary (whom the Emperor had
wished to be installed in the highest command), nor
even the Emperor himself, was ever to appear in his
army, much less to exercise the slightest authority in it.
No commission, no pension, nor letter of grace, was to
be granted by the Kaiser, without Wallenstein's ap-
proval. As an ordinary reward for his allegiance, an
Imperial hereditary estate in Austria was to be assigned
to him. As the extraordinary reward of success in the
field, he required that he should be Lord Paramount
over the conquered countries, and that all conquests
and confiscations should be placed entirely at his dis-
posal. He insisted that all means and monies for
carrying on the war should be solely at his command ;
and, at the conclusion of peace, he demanded the
assurance, that the Duchy of Mecklenburg should be
admitted to his capitulation." In vain did Eggenburg
ALBBECHT VON WALDSTEIN. 263
entreat Wallenstein to moderate his demands, which.
the Emperor could not grant without being deprived
of all Imperial authority over his armies. He even
condescended to suggest that his son, the King of
Hungary, might remain with the army, to learn the
art of war under Wallenstein. The Duke of Friedland
was not, as has already been clearly manifested, a man
of much Christian or loyal sentiment, and, with much
profaneness, and greater presumption, he declared,
" Never will I submit to any colleague in my office —
no, not even if it were God himself with whom I
should have to share my command." It would seem
that in the depths of his despair the Emperor did not
consider the conditions of his subject so arrogant as
they probably afterwards appeared to him when he had
recovered his position ; at all events he did not hesitate
to accept them, and a compact in the sense of them was
duly signed on the 15th of April, 1632.
Wallenstein did not delay to fulfil the promises Wallen-
which he had made. The fundamentals of the enter- s f,1.^ s vab
military
prise having, in truth, been long laid, and the machinery popularity.
having been well prepared for the purpose, both were
soon put in motion. As soon as the news transpired
that the Duke of Friedland was about to levy troops,
crowds of soldiers offered their services to try their
fortune under this favourite and experienced General. \
Many who had served under him formerly, and gone
into retirement, came forth again, ready to share with
him both booty and glory. The great pay he promised
attracted others, and the regular and plentiful supply
thus secured to the mercenary, as it was to be paid by
the peasant, was an irresistible inducement to all classes
to embrace the military life, instead of being the victims
of its oppression9. All the Imperial provinces were
9 " The drum was beat, and lo !
The plough, the workshop, is forsaken — all
Swarm to the old familiar banner." Schilleh.
264 ALBRECITT VON WALE-STEIN.
called upon to assist in the equipment. No class in
Austria was exempted from this taxation : no dignity
or privilege could be claimed from capitation. Wallen-
stein lavished money out of his own purse to hasten
the armament. By his bounty and dexterity he drew
to his standard all the disbanded veteran troops that
had ever served under the Imperial ensigns ; and he
took especial care to attract every commander of note,
of which sort there were many, Avhose swords and
consciences were always ready for sale. Though he
was known to punish with more than Roman rigour,
yet it was recognized that he rewarded with more than
Eoman profusion ; for which reason all who were con-
scious of military merit delighted to serve under him.
Nor was the Court of Vienna idle in its co-operation.
Orders were given to supply the army with every neces-
sary that could be imagined ; and the provinces were all
required to make liberal contributions. The Kings of
Spain and Hungary yielded considerable sums to the
same object. The Duke of Friedland and Mecklenburg
did not hesitate to treat with several foreign states in
his own name, to solicit men and money. The Duke
of Lorraine transmitted supplies, and Poland sent Cos-
sacks, while even the Princes of Italy furnished some
military necessaries. At the end of three months,
40,000 men, furnished even to superfluity with every
thing needful for war, commanded by tried and ex-
perienced officers, and inflamed by an enthusiasm for
their chief which seemed to assure victoiy, were assem-
bled under his personal command, and reviewed by him
at Pilsen, whence he immediately put them in motion,
to drive the Saxons out of Bohemia.
Drives the It was just at the period when Tilly had succumbed
Saxons out at the battle of the Lech, that the Saxon army,
mia. whose lam-els acquired at the battle of Leipzig had not
been very bright, yet from association with the Swedes
were still flushed with the brilliant results, occupied
Bohemia under Arnheim. Wallenstein, always an adept
ALBEECHT VON WALDSTEIN. 265
in artifice and dissimulation, knew that he had in the
Saxon General a ready agent, and therefore tried first to
work upon the indolence and insincerity of his master,
the Elector, to whom he made considerable offers ; but
the relative situation of the Emperor and the King of
Sweden gave a preference to the friendship of the latter
in John George's mind at this juncture.
The reduction of Bohemia was under all the circum- Invades
stances of such easy operation, that Wallenstein made it g1( , ret uces
his first employment. Fortune still clung to his sword.
After a short resistance, the gates of Prague were opened
to one of his regiments by the treachery of some Capu-
chin monks ; but the Saxon garrison made good show of
resistance at first, and even repulsed the Imperialists
after a considerable breach had been opened ; but those
who retired to the citadel laid down their arms upon
disgraceful conditions ; and Bohemia was again freed
from an enemy. The Emperor rewarded his Generalis-
simo for this first success with the Duchy of Glogau,
in Silesia. Wallenstein, master of the capital, hastened
to seize the narrow passes between Aussig and Pirna,
and now proposed to carry the war into the Electorate
of Saxony. But Maximilian of Bavaria, who had been
deprived by the death of Tilly of his best support, and
was at this moment sorely pressed by the enemy, solicited
the Duke of Friedland to hasten to his assistance ; and
Ferdinand seconded the request with all his influence.
But it soon appeared how completely the Imperial
authority had been sacrificed, by the concessions it had
made to the arrogant General. The Duke of Friedland
was alike indifferent both to Maximilian's entreaties
and to the Emperor's commands, and remained on the
confines of Bohemia intent on his Saxon aspirations, and
glad to abandon Maximilian to his fate, in remembrance
of the evfl turn which he had given the implacable Duke
at the Diet of Batisbon ; nor was he less pleased at his
power to chafe the curb of the Emperor's impotence.
Whether or no, however, this delay in marching Joins the
forces of
260 ALBBECHT VOX WALDSTELN.
the Elector down to the Danube arose I'rom a feeling of personal
of Bavaria. revenge, or any other bad passion, some good military
reasons may be assigned for Wallenstein's proceedings.
The Swedes, after their success on the Lech, had sal
down before Nuremberg, and the Imperial General
might possibly have thought that it was the better
strategy for Austria that the Swedes should waste
their strength before the Bavarian fortress, while he
was preparing against them a stunning blow in another
quarter. In the mean while, however, the army of the
Duke of Friedland became increased to 60,000 men,
who had attained to perfect order and admirable dis-
cipline. Yielding to the pressing entreaties of his
Sovereign, he did at length march south, and effected
the long-expected union with the forces of the Elector
of Bavaria at Egra. The petty Sovereign, however, and
the Generalissimo hated one another, and came at the
very first juncture to an open quarrel, as to the assump-
tion of the chief command of the combined army of
Imperialists and Bavarians, which ended, after some
altercation, in a kind of half-compromise, to Wallen-
stein's advantage ; after which the two Generals publicly
embraced each other in the sight of the troops, and
entertained for a time a hollow friendship.
Abstains With such an army as Wallenstein commanded, it
from dis- has been thought strange that it should have been
Khli"^^116 withdrawn, and that Gustavus Adolphus— whose army
Sweden at did not exceed at this moment 22,000 men — should
Nurem- ^ave -^een auowec\ to pursue his operations before
Nuremberg undisturbed; but it has been surmised,
that the King's immense preponderance of artillery pre-
vented the Imperialists from making any direct advance
upon the Swedes, who are said to have had with them
300 guns, provided with excellent attelage and ample
ammunition. These were now already placed on the
ramparts and intrenchments of Nuremberg, where the
King formed a strongly intrenched camp ; the fosse
eight feet deep and twelve feet broad, which the good
ALBKE0I1T YON WAEDSTEEN. 267
will of the surrounding peasantry assisting the Swedish
soldiery enabled him to form, completely secured the
protection of his camp ; and the magistrates and
authorities of the surrounding district amply filled his
magazines with provisions ; so that he possessed the
means of sustaining any amount of siege.
The Imperialist army advanced by slow marches to Declines an
Neumark, about thirty miles from Katisbon. Here ei^,°"!lte,r
Wallenstein reviewed this combined army, and at sight vns Adol-
of the formidable force he commanded could not resist Pnus-
the childish boast, " In four days it will be shown
whether I or the King of Sweden is to be master of
the world." Yet, notwithstanding the efficiency of
this fine force, he did not attack. " Battles enough
have been fought," he said; "it is time now to try
another method." His scheme is said to have been
to wear out his opponent by a tedious blockade, and
to act upon the Fabian principle — to hazard nothing,
but to hover about and to deprive his antagonist of the
opportunity of availing himself of the impetuous bravery
of despair. Accordingly he proceeded to erect on the
other side of the Pegnitz an equally strong fortified
camp ; and by means of this well-chosen position he
hoped to cut off Gustavus from all supplies that might
be coming up to him out of Franconia, Suabia, or
Thuringia. It was a matter of astonishment to lookers-^
on, that two such armies, led on by two such renowned
leaders, on whose conduct the fate of Germany de-
pended, should remain gazing at each other for weeks
without striking a blow of any kind, if we except the
trivial onsets, ambuscades, and skirmishes, to procure
forage, and intercept convoys. The truth is, Wallen-
stein had all along a certain dread of coming to blows
with Gustavus. There was in the King's operations a
principle of strategy that perplexed and puzzled the
Duke of Friedland, and created serious apprehensions
in the mind of that General, causing a visible alteration
in his way of proceeding. He even changed the de-
2G8 ALDEECnT TON WALDSTEIN.
cisive tone of speech, which he was in the habit of
using in matters of war. From being confident, he
became distrustful ; and what was once haughtiness
and obstinacy softened into deference and docility10.
He is thought to have considered that any check which
he might receive at this juncture might irretrievably
ruin the Imperial cause, and that therefore he would
not rush heedlessly to battle, seeing that he might
more securely destroy his opponents by famine and
pestilence. But he did not adopt sufficient precautions
to avert from himself the fate that he was designing
for his adversary. The peasantry, fleeing from the
whole of the country adjoining his camp, took with
them all their property ; so that both the Imperialists
and the Swedes in their urgency were obliged to send
forth their foraging parties into common districts, to
obtain supplies ; and the Croats and Swedish horse
contested its possession so stoutly, that each required
numerous escorts to cover them. Bloody conflicts,
with doubtful issues, daily occurred to obtain pro-
visions, which could only be secured for either army
sword in hand. A convoy that the Imperialists wire
expecting from a distance, coming up under an escort
of 1000 men, was pounced upon on the way by the
Swedes, who, under cover of the darkness of night,
secured it for themselves ; and one fine morning 12,000
cattle were driven into the Nuremberg camp in despite,
while 1000 waggons laden with bread were of necessity
burned to save them from recapture. A more serious
affair of the same kind near Altdorf also terminated to
the advantage of the Swedish cavalry, who routed seven
Austrian regiments, with the loss of about 100 men.
Wallenstein, seeing these many checks and increasing
difficulties, repented that he had declined to hazard a
battle at the beginning ; but the increased strengtb of
the Swedish camp now rendered the thought of making
'° Harte.
receive
rein-
ALBBECHT TON WALDSTEIN. 269
an attack upon it impracticable. The King acted
steadily upon his favourite axiom, " that a good general
with a small army could hardly ever be obliged to
fight, if he acted with due vigilance, forethought, and
activity."
After the armies had remained some time opposed to The Swedes
each other behind unassailable intrenchments, extensive Feceiv
. r. large -
reinforcements collected, and even led, by the Swedish force-
Chancellor, Oxenstierna, in person, reached the camp of ments'
the King. Duke Bernhard of Saxe Weimar, the Land-
grave of Hesse, and the Palatine of Birkenfeld, with
many German garrisons and Saxon regiments, had
united with the Swedish division of General Baner,
and, passing the Bednitz at Ellersdorf, also unmolested,
effected their junction with the royal army at Winds-
heim. They amounted together to 50,000 men, with
60 pieces of cannon, and ample supplies ; so that Gus-
tavus Adolphus was now at the head of 70,000 men,
and might turn the tables upon the Duke of Friedland.
The Imperialists, however, had also received some ac-
cession of strength out of Bavaria in their camp ; al-
though in both armies infectious diseases already pre-
vailed to a very serious extent, and decimated the thus
augmented strength of both.
To put an end to these distresses, the King of Gustavus
Sweden, relying on his great numerical superiority, was gf^Tj.
the first to cpiit his fines ; and on the 21st of August Imperial
formed his army in order of battle, and cannonaded camP-
the Duke's camp from batteries erected on the further
side of the river. He entrusted the defence of his in-
trenched camp to the militia of Nuremberg, and, passing
the Bednitz at Furth, at its confluence with the Pegnitz,
drove the enemy's outposts before him. The Duke of
Friedland, however, remained immoveable in his in-
trenchments, and contented himself with a distant fire
of cannon and musketry upon his adversary. His plan
was, to wear out Gustavus by his inertness, and by the
force of famine ; and neither the remonstrances of the
270 ALBRECITT TON WAI/DSTETN.
Elector of Bavaria, nor the impatience of his Generals,
nor tlic scornful ridicule of the Swedes, could shake his
purpose. He was only so far moved, as to send express
upon express to Pappenheim, to implore him to bring
or send to him such reinforcements as might render
him more a match for the King. But that com-
mander, who loved neither the Generalissimo nor
Maximilian, affected independence ; and he met the
orders with ceremonious excuses and well-devised
delays. Gustavus thus deceived in his hope of battle,
and compelled to action by his increasing necessities,
resolved to cut the knot and storm the Imperial camp,
although art and nature combined to render it im-
pregnable.
Desperate Wallenstein's camp was posted on the steep heights
between between the Biber and the Rednitz, on the edge of
the Swedes which the whole of his artillery was dispersed. Thick
j,K ., barricades, with sharp palisades, deep trenches, and
ists. The inaccessible redoubts, commanded every approach to it.
King of Tlie Imperial officers in command were every where
falls into a charged, under pain of the Generalissimo's highest dis-
snare. pleasure, not to allow themselves to be transported by
heat of passion, or any seeming fitness of opportunit}r,
into any further engagement than what was literally
defensive. The Swedish army was nevertheless ordered
to make an assault on the whole extent of the position,
though certain destruction awaited the assailants. The
attack was furious, and the defence obstinate : the in-
trepid band of Germans, to whom the King had con-
fided the task of honour, was driven back by the com-
bined strength of nature and of man. Exasperated at
their retreat, the King himself led forward his own
Finlanders ; but they, after an equally hot reception,
yielded to the superiority of the defence. One thousand
mangled bodies covered the field ; but Gustavus un-
dauntedly persevered, while Wallenstein calmly and
securely held his position unshaken. The cavalry
were then introduced into the struggle. Duke Bern-
ALBEECHT VON WALDSTEIN". 271
hard as well as the Duke of Friedland contended in
person at the head of their respective cavalry, and had
each of them a horse killed under him ; and the King
himself had the sole of his hoot carried off by a cannon-
ball in one of the charges. The combat, however, con-
tinued into the night ; but so much rain fell in the
course of it, that in the evening of the 21st of August
the Swedes found that they could not move their
cannon, and did not venture to renew the contest. Gus-
tavus accordingly dismantled his batteries ; and, em-
ploying the rest of the 22nd and the 23rd in passing
his army across the Eednitz, above the town of Furth,
determined to attempt to dislodge the Duke of Fried-
land from that portion of his encampment on which
stood the Castle of Altenberg, or " Alte Feste," which,
as the name implies, was a very high position. Wallen-
stein, instantly discerning the King's object, occupied
the old castle with augmented forces, and intrenched
himself there anew. He immured himself (so to speak)
behind a threefold barrier of abattis, and ramparts
of stout oak-trees, each rising in a semicircle the
one above the other, while the forest of Altenberg
spread itself around. It was a rash enterprise of
Gustavus to hope to make a lodgment in such a
citadel ; but it has been said that he was persuaded to
attempt it by the address and deceit of Aldringer.
"While the Swedish army was yet at prayer on the morn-
ing of the 21th, a valet de chambre of that General, one
who was an enterprising genius, and who had risen into
confidence by his courage and dexterity, was brought
prisoner into the King's presence. This adventurer
induced Gustavus to believe that some movements of
the Imperialists, which were in progress for the occu-
pation of the position, were in truth an actual decamp-
ing ; for that the troops had remonstrated with the
Generalissimo at the unnecessary sacrifice of their
lives ; who were ready, indeed, to die as soldiers ought,
in open fight, but who did not choose to remain
272 ALBEECHT TON WALDSTEIN.
in the camp to perish by famine. The King's judg-
ment, which, on cooler examination, would have led
him to decline the rash attempt, was ensnared hy
this artifice, and he ordered his men to advance.
There was an arched projection to the castle on
one side of the height, overhung with trees ; and
here Wallenstein, Gallas, and Aldringer, awaited the
Swedish attack of " commanded musketeers," led for-
ward hy the brother of Saxe Weimar, under the fire of
Torstenson's artillery, consisting of 200 guns. Wallen-
stein replied to this with unwearied diligence. The
whole combined operation was centred in the one
object — to get possession of the summit of the moun-
tain. The Swedes advanced with unabated courage ;
and word was brought Wallenstein " that the King had
mounted the hill." With his wonted profaneness, the
Generalissimo replied, " that he would not believe in a
Supreme Being in heaven if that castle could be taken
from him." The thing was impossible. The Swedes were
exposed to the fire of the Imperialists from head to foot,
while they lay almost buried behind the branches of
trees and parapets of felled oaks ; so that after ten
hours of the bloodiest service the King perceived that
all were fruitless attempts, and inevitable slaughter.
Night stopped the butchery ; and Wallenstein remained
thenceforth undisturbed within his fines. For fourteen
days each army retained its position, in the hope
that the other might be the first to give way. Distress
for provisions still prevailed to a fearful extent in each
camp, and at length the soldiers in both became muti-
nous and unmanageable. But here the iron will of
Wallenstein was more powerful than the kinder rule of
Gustavus. Affected to the heart by the general want,
and despairing of wearing out the endurance of his
antagonist, Gustavus at length broke up his camp on the
8th of September, and marched away, leaving a suffi-
cient garrison in Nuremberg to defend the ramparts.
Wallen- The Duke of Friedland evinced on these operations
stein en-
ALBEECHT VOJT WALDSTEIN. 273
his highest military qualities. Never lived a com- deavoursto
mander hetter calculated to keep down that most skiers
dangerous spirit of officers who often do great mis-
chief by an useless display of animal courage, without
the corresponding qualities of discretion and conduct.
He took a pride in showing that an idle waste of sol-
diers' blood was no part of his principle ; that he had
other ways of obtaining an object ; and he loved to
prove that he possessed the power of curbing his fol-
lowers equally from mischief without the camp as from
mischief within. When the Swedish General, Knip-
hausen, with a foolish bravado (which there was no
reason to suppose that the King approved, and which
was especially bad taste after what had happened)
marched his division from the royal camp in front
of the Imperial intrenchments, with a studied and
measured slowness, and with drums beating and colours
flying, Wallenstein, indifferent himself to this absurd
defiance, but knowing how calculated it was to irritate
his soldiers, —
" O'er their wild mood full conquest gained,
The pride he would not crush, restrained :"
the conqueror ordered his men to stand to their
arms, steady and ready for action ; but he merely
withdrew his outposts within his lines, and allowed
the enemy to retreat according to their own whim,
without any molestation. Moreover, he remained
tranquil in his camp for five days after the King's de-
parture, and afterwards justified the apparent military
defect of not having energetically followed up his suc-
cess against a worsted adversary by pleading his defi-
ciency of cavalry, and adding, " that he expected Pap-
penheim to arrive, and that then it would ' be all up '
with Gustavus."
The Duke of Friedland did not, however, altogether
lose his time in this delay. He personally visited all
his wounded, administered to their necessities, praised
T
27 I AJ.BEECHT V.iN u LLDSTEIN.
their gallant deeds individually, and then, as always,
profuse in his rewards, he distributed large gifts of
money amongst all ranks — 1000 crowns to a colonel,
15 to a private, and to all the intermediate ranks in
proportion. Discriminating liberality of this kind,
justly and speedily dispensed, is a true clement of
power, and no one understood its effect and influence
so well as Wallenstein, for it raised him considerably
above the mass of contemporary commanders, who
appeared to have regarded their hap-bazard levies as
mere creatures of their private ambition, and food for
powder. Indeed, it may be laid down as a sound
military principle, that every thing that proves to a
soldier that he is cared for by his officers elevates his
self-esteem, and, while it renders him more docile and
obedient, fits him for the most devoted action.
The Generalissimo renders an account of the fight
at Altenburg in an efficient report to the Emperor, that
is still extant. The victor speaks modestly of himself,
and allows that his position was, at one moment, nearly
carried by the King ; but he is, on the other hand, pro-
fuse in praise of both officers and soldiers, and solicits
for them marks of Imperial favour and protection.
The conclusion of the despatch is characteristic of the
man, at once a courtier and a general : " The King has
blunted his horns in this invpressa, and the result has
shown that he can no longer claim the title of invic-
tissimus, which must hereafter belong to Your Majesty
alone. Yet the King made a skilful retreat, and showed
clearly that he understood his business." Wallenstein
placed his own loss in the engagement at 400, and that
of the enemy at 2000, which is about the truth, as
admitted by the other side. The old warriors far ex-
ceeded in their frank candour modern generals, who
evince in this matter the most shameless effrontery and
lying in their bulletins ; and men had not yet learned to
practise the ridiculous exaggerations of those who strive
by such means to forge a short-lived fame.
ALBRECHT VON WALDSTEIN. 275
Wallenstein now saw the King's departure with high He tries to
gratification, for he had tried the endurinsr obstinacy £etacn
c i_ • it- Saxony
01 his troops to the uttermost, so that having accom- from the
plished his object he himself raised his camp at Zirndorf, Swedish
and, marching his army away, set it on fire. Wallen-
stein appears to have had in view political and personal,
as well as military objects in the course he now pursued.
He marched down the valley of the Kednitz to Bam-
berg, where he again mustered his forces. He found
the army, which, when he had reviewed it at Neumark,
was 60,000 strong, was now diminished by the sword, by
desertion, and disease, to no more than 24,000, of whom
one-fourth were Bavarians. The Duke of Friedland ac-
cordingly resolved to give his opponent the go-by, and
to move in the direction of Saxony. This step has
been regarded by the admirers of Wallenstein as a
masterpiece of policy and skilful generalship. In order
to prevent the King from making Bavaria the seat of
war, he despatched Maximilian to guard his own Elec-
torate,— glad enough to part with this associate, for he
was weary of the restraint which his presence imposed
upon him ; and, still adhering to his purpose of de-
taching Saxony from the Swedish alliance, he directed
his army through Bayreuth and Coburg, putting the
Maine and the mountains of Thuringia between himself
and the King, while he resolved to occupy the Saxon
Electorate for his winter-quarters. The conjuncture
was especially favourable to his views, for his friend
Anaheim, with the Saxon army, was gone away, as he
probably well knew, to invade Silesia ; and this diver-
sion against an adversary, which might rescue one of the
hereditary dominions from ravage, was a potent answer
to Maximilian for separating from him, and to the
Emperor Ferdinand for the course he had adopted.
Pappenheim at length had arrived to reinforce his
diminished army ; when Grallas and Hoik were sent
away into Voigtland, to lay waste that defenceless
province with fire and sword.
t 2
27G ALBKEC11T VON WA.LDSTEIX.
\\ all.n- Gustavus Adolphus measured the full extent of the
in his at- ohject of the Duke of Friedland, and having many
tack upon misgivings as to the firmness of the Elector John
fCh • ^rederick, was naturally apprehensive of the defection
but takes of Saxony from the Confederacy, which might seriously
Leipzig. affect his future prospects for Germany. He had, at
his first start from Nuremberg, engaged his army in
the siege of Ingoldstadt on the Danube, and was ahout
to make a second attack on that fortress, satisfied that
he had nothing to fear from the weakness of the Elector
of Bavaria, when he heard of Wallenstein's movement,
and listened to the pressing entreaties of John George
to go to the relief of Saxony. Accordingly, hastily
assembling his troops, he followed the steps of the Duke
of Friedland into Thuringia. Wallenstein's first idea
seems to have been — the reduction of Franconia ; hut
on the approach of a Swedish army, under Duke Bern-
hard, he altered his plan, and, for private reasons,
determined to discharge his resentment on the families
of Bayreuth and Cohurg. The former city was laid
under a severe contribution, and the Imperialists
advanced to the town of Coburg. The Ducal House,
which was of the Ernestine family of Saxony, had
furnished seven brothers who had borne arms for the
Evangelical Union against the House of Austria. The
Duke himself was at this moment with Gustavus ; but
his rich palace and great quantities of merchandise,
accumulated for Leipzig fair, lay in the town. Dew-
battel defended it ; but a breach was made on the 3rd
of October, and the walls were stormed in the defence-
less part ; and not all the gallantry of the defenders,
who retired in good order into the castle, could pre-
vent its occupation. Here, however, the gallant Dew-
battel set Wallenstein at defiance, who could not make
himself master of this castle, although by that he
would have secured the roads in one of the most wild
and unpassable parts of Germany. This was part of an
enterprising and extensive scheme ; for, had he gained
ALBRECUT VOK WALDSTEnST.
277
the Castle of Coburg, he thought to have encircled
Gustavus in a wide-spread net, which would have forced
the Swedes either to a speedy retreat back to the Baltic,
or to a capitulation of the King with his entire army.
Chagrined, therefore, by the disappointment, he turned
aside from Coburg towards Cronach, and entered Voigt-
land, where he completed the work of ravage which
had been ruthlessly commenced by Hoik and Gallas,
and then encamping at Weida, on the bank of the
Elster, he, on the 13th and 14th of October, entered
with his whole army the circle of Leipzig, and compelled
that city to surrender to his summons. There was
nothing now, therefore, between him and Dresden,
whither he desired to push on. But the Saxon army
had been suddenly called back for the defence of the
capital, and had advanced as far as Torgau ; and the
news of the King of Sweden's change of direction, and
his arrival at Erfurt, gave an unexpected check to the
operations of the Generalissimo.
Both armies were at this time intent upon fighting. Takes up
And indeed a battle could scarcely now be avoided. Gus- 1S ,ea " .
tavus had marched to Naumburg, which he reached on Leipzig,
the 1st of November, before a corps despatched by the
Duke of Friedland for the purpose of occupying it could
make itself master of the place. Wallenstein was
therefore content in the emergency to secure the post
of Weissenfels. Between the two there is a range of
narrow defiles, formed by a low mountainous ridge, at
the foot of which rims the river Saale. The King forth-
with prepared to intrench a camp at Naumburg. This
step puzzled Wallenstein, who took counsel of the most
experienced men about him, as to the reason of this
proceeding, and as to the step which it became now
most advisable for him to take. They unanimously
agreed, that it would not be prudent to attack the
King, and that his actually fortifying his camp plainly
showed that it was the royal intention not to abandon it
during the approaching winter; while it was also thought
27^ \i.i;i;kciit \hn w a LDSTE1 S
advisable for the Imperialists, in the diminished state
of discipline of their troops, who milled repose, again
to resort to an encampment. Accordingly, with a
degree of carelessness scarcely to be expected from the
great experience of WaUenstein, he at once ordered
his troops to be dispersed into cantonments between
Leipzig, Halle, and Weissenfels, with a view of taking
up those quarters for the winter, which, it may be
remembered, he had previously contemplated. Count
Pappenheim, more unaccountably still, was at the same
time, and under the same rash resolve, detached to the
far-off Rhine to check the Dutch army, that was at
this time threatening Cologne, and had received orders
to set off forthwith, and get possession, in his march, of
the fortress of Moritzburg, in the territory of Halle.
To Count Coloredo was given the command of the
Castle of Weissenfels ; and the Duke of Friedland estab-
lished the Imperial head-quarters in Leipzig.
Difficulty We can only draw upon the resources of our own
of account- Noughts to explain the conduct of WaUenstein at this
ingfor his . .
conduct at very important juncture. We may well believe that
tins junc- £}ie severe privations of the long encampment at Zim-
dorf had rendered his army impatient of some repose,
which might perhaps justify his condescension in
inquiring, through Pappenheim, what was the private
opinion of all the Generals and Colonels ; and they had
declared unanimously against any further offensive ope-
rations. It has been also very confidently asserted and
recorded, that WaUenstein himself had a great indispo-
sition to come to a hand-to-hand engagement with a
commander like Gustavus, and that he chose to avoid
any decisive affair with him, if that were possible. He
had, moreover, established his army in good winter-
quarters, exactly in the position he desired, to bear with
all his influence upon the Elector of Saxony on one hand,
and to leave the way open to the Swedish army to remove
the seat of war towards the coasts of the Baltic. To
these reasons must be added a belief, that Pappenheim,
ALBRECHT YON WALDSTEIN.
279
whose influence over the Generalissimo was very great,
had a private object of his own in getting detached upon
the expedition to Cologne, from whence he might carry
out his negotiation with the Infanta Governess of the
Netherlands. The result of all our reflections on this
matter must at last centre in this opinion, — that the
detachment of Pappenheim was a false step, and the
hasty occupation of winter-quarters a most serious error,
in any General, especially when opposed to the mili-
tary knowledge, ability, and experience of Gustavus
Adolphus.
The King of Sweden was well informed of all the Prepara-
enemy's movements ; and, as soon as he heard of Pap- "°"®
penheim's departure for Halle, he quickly broke up his
camp at Naumburg, and hastened with his whole army
to attack the Imperialists before they could be again
assembled. The news of this resolve greatly astonished
and alarmed Wallenstem ; but, speedily acting upon the
emergency, he despatched messengers in all haste to
recall Pappenheim, who had fortunately not advanced
further than Halle, which was not above five miles
distant ; and the Imperial cantonments had been so
judiciously marked out by the Camp Quarter-Master-
General, that in twenty-four hours he was able to collect
all hisvarmy in the wide plain about Lutzen, where, with
12,000 men, he now awaited boldly the attack of the
King with his 20,000. Three cannon-shot fired by
Coloredo from the castle announced the march of the
Swedish army round Weissenfels ; and the Duke of
Friedland immediately adopted the initiative, by op-
posing their passage over the Rippach. The high road
which goes from Weissenfels to Leipzig is intercepted
between Lutzen and Markranstadt by the Flos-Graben,
which unites the Elster with the Saale. On this canal
rested both the right wing of the Imperialists and the
left of the King of Sweden ; the cavalry of both armies
being in the plain on the opposite bank. Wallenstein's
head-quarters rested at Lutzen, face to face with the
280 ALBRECHT VON WALDSTEIN.
King's royal tent. The high road ran hetween the
armies ; hut the Duke was in possession of this cause-
way, and he made a deep trench along either side of it,
which he filled with musketeers ; and on a command-
ing station he planted seven large guns, to sweep the
entire course of the road and canal. The greater part
of the plain was commanded by an eminence, from
which fourteen pieces of cannon played over its whole
extent. Five brigades of Imperial infantry were formed
up behind the intrenchments, along the great road ;
and some expedients of trifling moment were adopted
to impede the enemy, and at the same time to conceal
the real weakness of the Imperial army.
Battle of Gustavus, who had made an ill-advised march over-
full of (ius- night to surprise his enemy in their cmarters, arrived
tavus. in front of the Imperialist army at evening, and gave
orders for the formation of his attack on the ensuing
morning. He arranged his army in two lines ; the
infantry in the centre, commanded by Nicholas Brahe,
Count of Weissenburg ' ; the artillery, including Hen-
derson's reserve of Scots, were spread along in front.
Bernhard, Duke of Saxe Weimar, at the head of the
cavalry, stood on the left wing, on the opposite side of
the canal. The morning dawned with a dense im-
penetrable fog, which delayed the attack till noon ; but
when it cleared up, the town of Lutzen was observed
to be in flames, having been set on fire by order of the
Duke, to prevent any operation upon that flank. The
attack was therefore limited to one of the cavalry of Saxe
Weimar, on the left, and of the infantry upon the centre.
H^ere the intrepid Swedish battalions were received with
1 This officer comes somewhat suddenly into Swedish story on
this occasion. He is, however, mentioned with praise in an atl'air
near Dirschau, in the Polish war of Gustavus in 1626, when he
was hut twenty-four years of age, and the King took him from
that time as a companion, and he accompanied his royal friend in
many daring personal adventures, and he also was killed at
Lutzen.
ALBRECHT TON WALDSTEIN. 281
a most murderous fire from the cannon on the height
above, and from the musketeers in the ditch, which
they received with undaunted resolution ; and, pressing
forward with courage, leaped upon the road and carried
the trenches gallantly, as well as the battery of seven
guns in rear of it, putting to flight the Imperial brigades
who defended it. But, with the rapidity of lightning,
Wallenstein rallied his fugitive battalions, and, forming
them anew, drove back the enemy beyond the road, and
pressed vigorously into the broken ranks of the Swedish
main fine. The battery that had been captured was also
again recovered into his hands. The King, at this
moment, was in the midst of his Finland cuirassiers,
at the right extremity of his line, spreading terror
among the Imperialist cavalry, when the report reached
him that his infantry of the centre was driven back.
Leaving, therefore, his own cavalry to the care of General
Horn, he rode directly to the place where his infantry
was most closely pressed ; but unfortunately the short-
ness of his sight led him too near to the enemy's ranks,
and the King's left arm was suddenly struck and shat-
tered by a bullet ; he was forthwith led by the Duke of
Lauenberg to the rear, when he received a second shot,
which went through the back, and he fell from his
horse, which was also pierced by many wounds. His
charger flying across the field without its rider, and
covered with blood, proclaimed to the army and also to
the Imperialists the fall of the King.
A mist rose again upon the plain about the time Desperate
Ithat the King fell, and, under cover of it, the Swedish struggle :
, ,.. -ii • . the Swedes
Generals led on their troops with the view of recovering are in the
the royal body. The four central brigades of the Swedes, e?^ victo-
1*1011 s
led forward by Stalhaus, performed wonders ; but the
two regiments placed to oppose them made such an
obstinate and unparalleled resistance, that Wallenstein
afterwards adopted the residue of that gallant brigade as
his palace-guard at Prague, when he retired into Bohemia.
The Imperial artillery on the windmill height was taken ;
282 Al.ilKKCHT TON WALDSTEIEr.
and tlio second line of the Swedish infantry, under Knip-
hauscn, advanced across the trenches, and retook, for the
second time, the seven-gun battery. General Horn, at
the head of the cavalry, here rushed upon the Austrian
dragoons, who made but a feeble resistance, and fled.
The Imperial powder-waggons took fire with a tre-
mendous explosion, and the Imperialists every where
in confusion appeared driven from the field, when Pap-
penheim appeared marching up in compact form, ami
the victory had all to be struggled for again. This
unexpected appearance revived the courage of the Im-
perialists, and the Duke of Friedland quickly re-formed
his lines. Again he drove the Swedes back across the
trench, and retook the seven-gun battery. The entire
yellow regiment, which had most distinguished itself
on the side of the Swedish infantry, lay dead on the
ground, in the order in which they had fought. The
blue regiment had also succumbed, after a desperate con-
test, from the charge of the Austrian horse, under Count
Piccolomini, — who had on this occasion seven horses
shot under him, and was hit in six different places.
Wallenstein himself was seen riding amidst death and
destruction with cool intrepidity, but remained un-
scathed, though men were falling thick around him,
and his mantle was filled with bullets. While Pappen-
heim was making his dispositions at the head of his
line, he received a stroke from a falcon-shot that
wounded him in the thigh, and almost at the same
instant a musket-ball pierced his breast. He well
knew that it was the stroke of death ; though retaining
his consciousness he spoke cheerfully to his men, who
nevertheless forcibly carried him from the field. On
this Hoik assumed the command of the left wing, op-
posing Stalhaus, who had replaced the King. A third
battle of two hours' duration now ensued, with various
fortune, but without any decisive result in that quarter.
Meanwhile Piccolomini, Tcrtzky, and others, led for-
ward the Imperial centre of four great squares of in-
ALBEECHT TON WALDSTEIN. 283
fantry, flanked by two regiments of cuirassiers. Here
Piccolomini was shot in more than one place, but refused
to quit the field. The Uplanders, Ostrogoths, Stru-
landers, and other Swedish brigades confronted them ;
while on the opposite flank of the field Duke Bernhard
was opposed to Coloredo ; and both armies remained
engaged till the evening with a fury and obstinacy
that can hardly be described. The Flos-Graben was
actually filled with the heaps of the slain. Tetuof Jthe
leaders on either side had fallen.
The death of these Generals was, however, fatal to Wallen-
the Imperial cause ; for, missing their accustomed j^tei^ and
leaders, the soldiers gave up the battle for lost, and quits the
abandoned the field. The Swedes formed all their field*
broken lines into one solid mass, and, profiting by the
confusion, made a final movement across the trench,
and for the third time got possession of it and the
battery, and turned its guns upon the enemy. It has
been said that the fortune of the day mainly inclined
to the Swedish side from the tactics of Gustavus in
first intermingling musketeers with the pikemen in
their formations ; but Wallenstein had already adopted
this tactic. The sun was setting while the strife con-
tinued, though skill and courage did their utmost to
repair disaster ; but increasing darkness at length put
an end to the conflict, when both armies separated,
as if by mutual agreement, and each party claiming
the victory quitted the field. The artillery of both
armies rested on the ground. Pappenheim's army,
which was last in possession of the field, might have
saved the Imperial guns ; but being without a General,
and having no orders how to act, they retired hastily
from the field to Leipzig, where they joined the main
army. More than 9000 corpses were left unburied on
the field, and the entire plain was covered with the
wounded and dying. "Wallenstein repaired from the
field, to receive the parting breath of Pappenheim, who
was brought to Leipzig, and who died there the next
281 ALBRECnT YON WALDSTETN.
Mr
day, a faithful servant of the Emperor and of the
Church, and much in favour with the troops, whom he
had often led to victory. The Duke of Friedland was
not quite his equal in physical courage, and is thought
to have abandoned the field of Lutzen earlier than was
needful ; although Piccolomini made amends for his
Generalissimo's shyness, hy remaining firm under ten
wounds, and having had three horses killed under him ;
indeed, he remained the last man on the field. Wallen-
stein is recorded to have made his appearance in the
battle in a sedan chair, rarely at the beginning of it
exposing his person in the fight ; and so much was his
conduct reflected on in his army, that when he after-
wards brought one of his colonels to the scaffold for some
shortcomings at Lutzen, the latter alleged for his excuse,
that he was about to be punished " for running away like
his Generalissimo." The Duke of Friedland was con-
fessedly defeated, though the Te Deum was sung in
honour of a victoiy in all Austrian and Spanish
churches. He was, as may well be believed, sadly 'out
of temper the whole time he rested at Leipzig. He
charged his officers, right and left, with cowardice, and
brought them to a court-martial on the spot, when
several of the most respectable officers were disgraced,
or shot. He would allow of no appeal to the Em-
peror ; and by this merciless severity he brought upon
himself a host of implacable enemies, who from this
time forth silently worked out his ruin.
Wallen- Duke Bernhard of Saxe Weimar having collected
rm TjL together eighteen regiments of infantry, and 140 squad-
tisbon. rons of horse, hastened from the field to advance across
the Danube against the Bavarians, and with the rapi-
dity of lightning appeared before Batisbon. In this
perplexity Maximilian again appealed to the Emperor
and to the Duke of Friedland, to send him if only some
5000 men, to afford him the aid of their countenance.
Seven messengers were sent in succession by the Em-
peror to Wallenstein, who at last condescended to direct
ALBEECHT TON WALDSTEIN". 285
his march on Eatisbon. Bernhard hastily withdrew
before the confederated forces, and the Generalissimo,
in no mood to gratify the Bavarians further, quitted
them again and withdrew into Bohemia. The fall of his
great rival in glory had left the game open to Wallen-
stein, while it had shaken to its centre the Swedish-
Germanic Confederacy. The Duke, who understood
human nature as well as most people, knew how much
the spirit of discord would arise in an army after such
a loss ; and satisfied himself that the cancerous affec-
tions of a coalition would eat deep when there is no
acknowledged head to keep the body politic in
health : he again adopted the Fabian principle of
remaining inactive, apparently to lull his opponent to
repose, while he set himself seriously to the task of
increasing his active forces ; in which task he spared
nobody, so that the hereditary provinces groaned during
the winter of 1632 under enormous contributions, which
greatly increased the bitter cry against himself.
Silesia was at this period one of the hereditary do- Dissension
minions most exposed to danarer. Three different ^®tv^een
r ° . the feaxons
armies occupied it, Swedes, Saxons, and Prussians, but and
this crowd of armies saved the province to the Em- Swedes,
peror ; for, as Wallenstein had foreseen, the mutual
hatred of the Saxons and Swedes now prevented them
from acting together, and the jealousy of the Generals
was opposed to all unanimity. Count Thurn and Arn-
heim contended for the chief command, and the Prus-
sians and Saxons looked upon the Swedes as troublesome
strangers to Germany, who ought to be got rid of as
speedily as possible.
At length, in October, 1633, Wallenstein, at the Surrender
head of 40,000 men, selected Silesia as the seat of war, ° f. ,
, ,. Swedish
and marched to oppose these disconcerted confederates, army at
who all together could only combine a force of 24,000 Stemau.
men. They, nevertheless, resolved to give him baitle, Frankfort
and marched to Munsterberg, where they now in- on the
trenched their camp. The ambition of the Duke of
28G A LBBECHT VOW WA DDSTE1 N .
Friedland was as strong ;,-; ever; but it appears to
have been of rather a dreaming ami scheming character
than one of action. He was always apparently glad
of an excuse for remaining inactive ; so that now, in the
intricate and very irreconcilable design of ruining at
once the Emperor and the Swedes, while he set him-
self to conclude a separate peace with the Saxons, he
commenced a series of negotiations with all the Con-
federate Generals separately, under the cloak of an
armistice ; and the two opposing armies were inex-
plicably left for nine days within pistol-shot of each
other under a suspension of arms. Impatient at length
at the ill success of his diplomacy, he suddenly deter-
mined to display his strength, and made a movement
as if he designed to penetrate through Silesia into
Saxony, while he circulated the report that Piceo-
lomini had already invaded that Electorate. Arnheim
accordingly took the alarm, and hastened away to the
assistance of his master, John George, by which means
the Swedes were left isolated and exposed. They were
encamped under Count Thurn at Steinau, on the Oder.
As soon, therefore, as Arnheim had marched some
miles on the road to Meissen, Wallenstein, who was
always thought to have clandestine relations with
th-e Saxon Field-Marshal, marched and surprised the
Swedes, who lay in the most complete security ; and
the whole army surrendered to him without a drop of
blood shed, with all their columns, baggage, and artil-
lery. The victory of Steinau was followed by the
capture of Frankfort on the Oder. Colonels Illo and
Goetz were then ordered by Wallenstein to cross the
Warta, and push forward into Pomerania, where they
speedily obtained possession of Landsbcrg, in the Neu-
mark. The Duke of Friedland having thus made the
Elector of Brandenburg to tremble, the latter agreed
to a truce ; and then Wallenstein burst suddenly into
Lusatia, and took Goerlitz and Bautzen, as though he
intended to follow up his advantages against the
ALBRECHT YON WALDSTEIN. 287
Elector of Saxony ; but the continued successes of
Duke Bernhard in Bavaria had become so threatening
to the Emperor and Maximilian, that all pretext in
Wallenstein for a continuance in the remote north, and
of any longer resisting the Imperial orders, was over-
come, and he was accordingly obliged to set out for
the Upper Palatinate, and to leave all his Saxon in-
trigues for the present to their fate.
Ferdinand had chafed with continued uneasiness at Wallen-
Wallenstein's proceedings. He had indeed given the ^tem 1*e"
supreme command in Germany to his Generalissimo ; Bohemia,
but he was not disposed that he should presume to aga"1**
exercise the authority which had never been delegated to 0f the Em-
him over foreign troops ; therefore the Emperor, to peror.
evade his own concessions, had in consequence re-
quested the King of Spain to send to his aid an army,
which had been raised for the ptu*pose at Milan, and
which was now coming up to the Danube under the com-
mand of the Cardinal Infanta. Wallenstein had indeed
become no longer indispensable to the Emperor, for
the Imperial fortunes had brightened ever since the
death of Gustavus, and " the ball was again at his
feet." The Duke of Friedland obeyed his summons, but
marched slowly towards the Bavarian frontier ; and on
his march he stopped to recover the town of Cham,
which, as well as Batisbon and Straubing, had been
taken by the Swedes. But no sooner did he learn
that the Saxons had taken advantage of his absence
to re-enter Bohemia, than he availed himself of some
pretext to return thither, without asking the Em-
peror's permission or considting him, professing that
every consideration must be postponed to the defence
and preservation of the kingdom of Bohemia, which
he indeed already considered and guarded as though
it were his own property.
Such continued indifference and unexampled con- The Empe-
tempt of the Imperial wishes, involving an obvious \or ^Sain
. deprives
injury to the common cause, at length satisfied Fer- WaPen-
-^ ALBRECI1T VON WALDSTEIV
Btein of his dinand that there must be an end to his contract; and
he became the more induced to believe the unfavourable
reports with regard to the Duke that were continually
coming to his ears, for they had become current
through Germany. Wallenstein succeeded indeed in
explaining away the suspicious negotiations he had
held with the enemies' generals, instead of fighting
them ; and, having had the prudence to commit nothing
of them to writing, the spies who had been sent, at
the instigation of his enemies, to search out the truth
of these rumours for the Emperor, had returned with
nothing against the General that could convict him.
At length, however, the Elector of Bavaria, impatient
at being ever saci'ificed to Wallenstein' s impractica-
bility, threatened that if he shoidd be retained in
the chief command, he would unite his forces against
the Papal League, and join the Swedes. The Spanish
Ambassador Iiichel also insisted on the Duke's dis-
missal ; and many officers about the Court, whose estates
had not been exempted from Wallenstein's exactions,
clamoured loudly against the Generalissimo. This
combination now compelled the Emperor to consent to
deprive him once more of his command. The Duke of
Priedland soon saw, by the cessation of intercourse
jvith Vienna, that his compact was considered at an
end, and rightly conjectured that another dismissal was
resolved upon. Aldringer, one of the Generals most in
his obedience, and now under his command, received
the direct injunctions of the Emperor to march down
and join the Elector of Bavaria on the Danube, with
or without the consent of the Generalissimo ; and posi-
tive orders were also given that some regiments should
be sent down to reinforce the army of the Cardinal
Infanta. The pressure of circumstances, therefore, no
longer permitted of any delay in the execution of the
ambitious plans that Wallenstein had formed for his
aggrandizement. He had, in fact, already delayed too
long, awaiting the favourable configuration of his horo-
ALBKEC1IT TON WALDSTEIN. 289
scope, to which he had constantly attended. But he
could now no longer afford to await the tedious co-
operation of the stars : in self-defence he must act, or
he would be disarmed, for he foresaw that when he was
weak and defenceless his ruin would be consummated.
His first step was, to assure himself of the senti- Wallen-
ments of his principal officers, and then to put to the !*f™*s ,™e"
„ . . , , , , n , , , , . „,, ditated de-
proof the attachment of the army to his person. The fection
three generals most admitted to his confidence, and to from fc.he
a greater degree than the rest, were Kinsky, Tertzky, J"<? na
and Illo ; and the two first were bound to him by the
terms of relationship. Piccolomini, an adventurer, who
was a student of his own in the stars, and who had
pretended to be an astrologer like himself — one also
who had, it is true, evidenced much braveiy, and ob-
tained his protection for his eminent military qualities,
was the first of name and mark whose fidelity he sought
to test. Wallenstein disclosed to him his conviction of
the Emperor's ingratitude, and his knowledge that Fer-
dinand had again resolved on his removal from the com-
mand of the army, and accordingly that he had in
consequence irrevocably determined to abandon entirely
the party of Austria, and carry his force, his name, and
his influence, to the side of the enemy. He declared to
his astrological friend, that the stars were propitious, and
that he reckoned principally on Piccolomini's services,
to whom he promised the greatest rewards. In a
friendly spirit, his subordinate spoke of the dangers
and obstacles that must stand in the way of so
hazardous an enterprise ; but Wallenstein ridiculed
such fears. " In such enterprises," he said, " nothing
was difficult but the commencement. Something must
always be trusted to fortune." His resolution was
taken, and he would encounter the hazard at the head
of a thousand horse. " Quern Deus vult perdere prius
dementit ;" for Piccolomini read the stars quite dif-
ferently from his great master in the art of war and
astrology ; and, now apprised of this dangerous secret,
290
ALBRECHT VOX WALDSTEJX.
he with native astuteness saw a way to his interest
marked more clearly upon the eartli than in the heavens,
and accordingly did not lose a moment in apprising the
Court of Vienna of this most important communi-
cation.
Wallon- The Duke of Friedland began now to alter his
Btem hahitual character ; instead of a close reserve, he mixed
Generals, more openly with his generals, occasionally breaking
out to them in bitter complaints against the Court.
" Your merits are denied their reward," he told them ;
" and my recommendations of you are disregarded.
Thus are all our faithful services recompensed ! Who
will any longer devote his services to so ungrateful a
master ? For my part, I am henceforth determined
to separate myself from the House of Austria." In
January, 1634;, he held a meeting of his generals at
the Castle of Pilsen. Of those who held command in
his army about twenty appeared ; but three of the
most influential, namely, Gallas, Coloredo, and Aldrin-
ger, designedly absented themselves ; and Wallenstein
observing this, but suspecting nothing, sent to press
their attendance. Illo undertook to learn the senti-
ments of the officers present, and at the same time to
prepare them for the particular part which he expected
each of them to perform. He began by laying before
them the last orders that the General had received
from the Imperial Court for the direction of the army.
The Emperor had desired that his hereditary dominions
might in future be spared from winter-quarterings ;
that a considerable detachment of horse should be
made from the army of the Duke of Friedland for the
aggrandizement of that of the Cardinal Infanta, and
that, notwithstanding the season, the Generalissimo
should immediately march to recover the fortress of
Katisbon to the Imperial arms. By the obnoxious
turn which he skilfully gave to these new orders, he
found it easy to excite the indignation of the assembly.
After this well-chosen exordium, he expatiated with
ALBRECHT VOX WALDSTEIX. 291
considerable eloquence upon the merits of the army
and the General ; and upon the ingratitude with which
they were requited by the Emperor. " The Duke of
Friedland had," he said, " contested this injustice, and
accordingly it was resolved by the venal Court again
to remove him from the command, and probably to
make away with him entirely. The Generalissimo had
received reliable information that the King of Hun-
gary, a Prince devoted to Spanish and foreign coun-
sels, was to be nominated to his command ; that they
were to be called upon to undertake a winter campaign
for the recovery of Eatisbon, solely for the purpose
of harassing and vexing them ; that Wallenstein, thus
abandoned by the Court, was under a perfect inability
to keep his engagements with the army. The very
means of its subsistence were to be taken from him,
while the Jesuit party in the Ministry enriched them-
selves with the produce of the provinces that their arms
had captured, and squandered the money intended for
the pay of the troops upon purposes quite foreign to its
object. For this the General was to receive a dis-
graceful dismissal ; but he was resolved that the matter
should not come to this : — he would resign his com-
mand before it should be wrested from his hands ; and
this," continued Illo, " is what I am instructed to com-
municate to you ; and I now ask you whether it would
be advisable for us to lose our illustrious Commander."
An universal cry that " they would not allow him to be
taken from them " here interrupted the speaker. This
enthusiasm was excited to the utmost, and four of the
officers present were deputed to wait upon the Duke of
Friedland upon the spot, and to request that he would
not quit the command. Wallenstein received them
with favour, and made a show of acquiescence to their
wishes, but professed not to yield to their desire until a
second deputation confirmed the request of the first. He
then engaged not to quit the service without the know-
ledge and consent of his army. And, as this concession
v2
292 A.LBBECHT TON w \ i.USTKi \.
on his part seemed to require a corresponding return
on theirs, he required of them to sign a written pro-
mise truly and firmly to adhere to him, and neither to
separate themselves, nor allow themselves to he sepa-
rated, from his command. An express condition was
inserted in this paper : — " As long as Wallenstein shall
employ the army in the Emperor's service ;" and, of
course, none of the assembled officers hesitated to sign
what was apparently an innocent and reasonable en-
gagement. These men had, in truth, been called to
the command of their regiments under certain promises
from the Duke of Friedland, and were of course fearful
lest their important claims for remuneration would not
be satisfied if Wallenstein were to lay down the chief
command. It has been avowed, that, at a dinner which
followed this meeting, Illo took the resolution, after
the glass had freely circulated, to renew from these
officers the promise that they would faithfullj- hold out
with the Duke, if he should choose to retain the office
of General, and that this written engagement was
signed over again ; but that Piccolomini and others
who were present at the entertainment discovered
with astonishment that the saving clause of the Em-
peror's service was omitted from this second document.
There are some biographers (especially Eorster, the
most recent of them) who deny this charge of duplicity
in Wallenstein, asserting that if any double dealing
had been practised by him upon them, they would have
appealed to it for their own justification. " IAtera
scripta manet." From neither copy could the Duke of
Friedland have been acquitted from the charge of con-
spiracy against lawful authorit/v. The next day he
himself assembled the officers, and they had expressed
their allegiance to him by this document, when none
dissented from their engagement ; and on his individual
part he undertook to confirm the whole tenor of the
agreement entered into between Illo and them.
Tlic Em- Nothing now remained but to obtain a similar assur-
peror conn-
ALBBECHT TON WALDSTEEN. 293
ance from the absent Generals ; and renewed invitations fcerworks
were sent to Gallas, Coloredo, and Aldringer, to hasten ste\n»s jjs.
then- return. A rumour of the proceedings that had loyal pro-
occurred at Pilsen met them on their way. Aldrin- ceedings-
ger accordingly at once returned to the strong fortress
of Frauenberg, of which he was governor, and, feigning
illness, resolved to be on his guard. Gallas alone made
his appearance, but he was already in concert with
Piccolomini and in free communication with the Court
of Vienna as to all Wallenstein's proceedings. These
two men were empowered by secret instructions from
the Emperor's own hand to secure the persons of the
Duke of Friedland and his two associates, Illo and
Tertzky, and to place them in secure and close confine-
ment, until they should have an opportunity granted
to them by the Emperor of answering for their con-
duct. But the honour of bearding the Hon in his den
was too much for these sycophants. It was dangerous
enough to be the depository of such a commission,
much more so to be called upon to execute it. If
Wallenstein should discover the secret, they knew that
nothing could save them from the effects of his ven-
geance and despair. It was in the terms of the patent
that the persons of Wallenstein and his friends should
be at once secured dead or alive ; but it was as
hazardous to destroy, as to make an attempt to lay
hands upon a man whose person was deemed almost
inviolable by the entire army who surrounded him.
It was doubtful, after what had so recently transpired,
whether the soldiers would be ready to coalesce with
his murderers, and abandon Wallenstein's brilliant ser-
vice in order to trust to the Emperor's promises. So
deeply were fear and veneration of their General en-
graven in the breasts of the soldiers, that the attempt
to seize him in the midst of a guard devoted to him
would have been sufficient to make the boldest hesitate.
The continued absence of Aldringer began to excite Wallen-
the Duke's suspicions ; and Gallas, in the difficulty in jjjjjdb^8"
294
\ LBBECHT VOS WALDSTEIX.
Gallaa and
Aldringer.
Wallen-
stein de-
tects Pic-
colomini's
treachery,
and re-
solves to
quit the
Emperor's
service.
which he was placed by the Emperor's commission,
desired to have an interview with him, and to consult
him as to how best to obey his instructions in this emer-
gency. Accordingly, he offered to Wallenstein to
repair in person to Erauenberg, in order to prevail on
Aldringer, who was his relation, to return with him.
Pleased with this evidence of zeal, the Duke not only
yielded the required permission, but lent his own
equipage for the journey. Eejoicing at the success of
his stratagem, the chief conspirator quitted Pilsen
without delay, leaving to Piccolomini the task of keep-
ing his eye upon Wallenstein. Gall as, however, did
not bring back Aldringer, but sent him forward in all
haste to Vienna, to represent the difficulties of the task
imposed upon them, while he betook himself, under
some excuse, to Upper Austria, having now resolved to
abandon his friend.
In the mean while symptoms of desertion of humbler
adherents became suspicious, yet the attachment to
their cloth, which always makes soldiers brethren, pre-
vented Wallenstein from entertaining any suspicion of
Piccolomini ; and so blind was he in this attachment,
or so inordinately confident in his star, and in the im-
possibility of any one having the power to deceive him
(which is said to have been one of the remarkable
features of his character), that he actually suffered
himself to be again so overreached by the supposed
fidelity of this brother astrologist, who now offered to go
after Gallas, that he was also conveyed on his mission
in the General's own carriage as far as Lintz. At this
place Piccolomini knew that the troops assembled there
were for the express purpose of securing the Duke's
person, and that he was expected to place himself at
the head of them. Another army under General Siegs
was also collecting at Prague, where Gallas had now
already announced himself publicly as the Commander-
in-Chief, named by the Emperor's commission, in suc-
cession to the Duke of Friedland, and from whom all
ALBEECHT VON WALDSTEIN. 295
were henceforth to receive their orders. The mist then
at length dropped from the eyes of Wallenstein, and he
awoke in considerable consternation from his dream of
security. Suddenly and fearfully he beheld all his pro-
jects ruined and all his hopes annihilated ; but it is under
such circumstances that great minds reveal themselves.
Though deceived, he refused to abandon his designs,
and would despair of nothing while he held life and
power. His first act was to issue orders that no com-
mands were to be obeyed as coming from him, unless
they proceeded directly from himself, or from Tertzky,
or Illo ; and he prepared with his accustomed resolution
to march his army in haste upon Prague, where he
intended to throw off the mask and to declare openly
against the Emperor. He saw, however, that the time
had arrived when he absolutely required more extensive
support and assistance ; and he looked again to Sweden
and Saxony, whose aid he could now implore with real
sincerity of purpose. Tertzky was in motion with this
object, to place himself in communication with Duke
Bernhard of Saxe Weimar, who had promised to lend
Wallenstein the countenance of some Swedish soldiers to
aid him in his conspiracy ; but while the Generalissimo
was himself preparing to follow the troops, he learned
that Prague had been already secured by Gallas, and that
Piccolomini was advancing in force against him. He now
saw clearly that he had no friends about him on whom
to rely. He applied himself without loss of a moment
to Oxenstierna and Arnheim direct, requesting them to
send down Swedes and Saxons to his assistance ; and
in consequence the Duke Francis of Saxe Lauenberg
was despatched with 4000 of the latter, and Duke
Bernhard with 6000 of the former, prepared to join
Tertzky and the few officers and soldiers who were, or
pretended to be, faithful to Wallenstein, who himself
repaired to Egra, on the frontiers of Bohemia, in
order to facilitate his junction with the enemies of his
Sovereign.
29G AXBBECHT VON WALBSTKIK.
Rejects the It was under these circumstances that one of his
advice of suite asked leave to offer him his advice : — " Under the
fullowers. Emperor," said he, "your Highness is certain of being
a great and respected nohle ; with the enemy you are
at hest but a precarious king. It is unwise to risk
certainty for an uncertainty. The enemy will avail
themselves of your personal influence only while the
opportunity lasts, hut will ever regard you with sus-
picion, and will always be apprehensive that you will
treat them as you will have treated the Emperor.
Return, then, to your allegiance while there is yet
time." "But how is that to be done now?" inter-
rupted Wallenstein. " You have 40,000 men at arms,"
was the reply (meaning gold ducats, or money stamped
with the figure of an armed man); "take them with
you, and go straight to the Imperial Court : declare
that the steps you have taken hitherto were merely
designed to test the fidelity of your adherents, and of
distinguishing the loyal from the doubtful ; and say
you come to warn His Imperial Majesty against these
dangerous men. Thus you will make them appear as
traitors who are labouring to destroy you. And at
the Imperial Court 40,000 ducats will be sure to be
welcome, while Friedland will be again the man that
he was at the first." " The advice is good," said Wal-
lenstein, after a pause ; " but let the devil trust to it."
Nevertheless, he so far acted upon it, that he sent the
Colonels Brenner and Mohswald to Vienna, with a
letter to the Emperor in explanation of his conduct,
and to assure him that he was willing quietly to give
up the chief command of the army, and to justify him-
self; but his enemies prevented this message (if it was
in truth ever sent, for it is only a suggestion of one
historian) from ever reaching the Emperor Ferdinand.
John Gordon at this time commanded the garrison at
Egra, an officer in whom Wallenstein placed no small
confidence, as he had raised him from the ranks, and
made him Lieutenant -Colonel of Tertzky's regiment.
ALBRECHT TON WALDSTEIS". 297
He was a Scotch Protestant, as was also Leslie, who
bad been especially distinguished and benefited by the
Duke of Friedland, and now held the post of Watch-
Master-General. Before he quitted Pilsen he sent to
desire speech with these two men, who met him on his
march, escorted by Colonel James Butler, an Irish
Papist, who commanded 50 horsemen, and 200 infantry
of his countrymen. The conversation that was held in
the General's lodgings between these men induced them
subsequently to reveal to one another, that an Imperial
decree, proclaiming the Duke of Friedland a traitor, had
been openly promulgated, and that he was a lost man.
These people were, as has been noted, deeply indebted Treacher-
to Wallenstein's favour, and they had so completely °us con,-
earned his implicit confidence, that he now placed his Leslie and
person under their protection as his surest and most n.is asso"
cititcs
faithful champions. Leslie, won over by Piccolomini,
appears to have been the first to turn and tempt the
rest against the Generalissimo, their common bene-
factor. The canny Scot showed them that they were
now called to choose between treason and duty, between
their Sovereign and a denounced rebel, and convinced
them of its being their interest to turn against him.
The three friends agreed at their first meeting in the
bold resolve, that they would take their victim alive by
securing him and delivering him up a prisoner. To
Leslie, however, Wallenstein had unbosomed himself
subsequently to such an extent, that they saw that
the expected arrival of Duke Bernhard, and others, who
might appear at the earliest opportunity, admitted of
no half-nieasures, for that Egra might be at any mo-
ment in the enemy's hands ; and in the revolution their
renowned prisoner might be taken out of their custody,
and their hope and expectation of reward would be alto-
gether annihilated. To anticipate this mischance, they
determined together that the Duke must be assassinated
on the following night without further scruple. It was
arranged that Colonel Butler should give a supper in
298 AISEECHT VON" WALDSTK1.V.
his apartments in the Castle of Egra on the 25th of
February to the chief officers, and that the fearful deed
should be perpetrated at this entertainment. Illo,
Tertzky, and Kinsky attended the invitation when given
to them without the slightest mistrust ; but Wallen-
stein, although he suspected nothing, excused himself.
Plot for As the castle was a fortification within a forti-
natioiTot"51 ncation, no place could be more commodious for the
Wallen- perpetration of a wholesale massacre. Previous to the
stem. arrival of the guests, trusty soldiers, who were privy to
the plot, were admitted into the castle. But, later in
the evening, Captain Walter Devereux, an Irishman,
with fifteen men, was specially selected for the execution
of the dangerous enterprise of giving the blow, and ad-
mitted by a postern gate. Wallenstein was closeted
with Battista Seni, his astrologer extraordinary, and
they were occupied in reading the stars while the sup-
per was taking place in the Castle of Egra. " The dan-
ger is not yet past," said Seni, with prophetic spirit. " It
is," exclaimed the Duke, who would give the law even to
heaven itself ; and he added with irony, or with his habi-
tual tone of humour, "it is written that thou, friend
Seni, shalt also be thrown into prison." His wonted
generosity and kindness to his astrologer prevented the
latter from taking this amiss; but, nevertheless, he
shortly took his leave, and Wallenstein retired to bed.
His death. When the repast was nearly finished, Gordon, or
Leslie, proposed the health of the Elector of Saxony ;
on which Butler professed surprise, and declared " he
would drink to no man's prosperity who was an enemy
of the Csesar." The wine let loose the tongues, and
the guests freely abandoned themselves to loud and
vehement conversation. Wallenstein's health was
drunk in full bumpers, not as a servant of the Em-
peror, but as an independent Sovereign Prince ; and
Illo boasted " that in three days their master would be
at the head of such an army as he had never before com-
manded." About ten in the evening Devereux entered
ALBBECHT TO?T WALDSTEIN. 299
the hall with a drawn sword in his hand, attended by
seven or eight soldiers armed in the same manner.
"Long live Ferdinand the Second," he cried; "and
long prosper the House of Austria ! " The tables were
overturned in a moment. Illo and Tertzky, suspecting
mischief, laid their hands upon their swords. Leslie
gave orders to raise the drawbridges ; and the hall was
suddenly filled with armed men, who placed themselves
behind the chairs of these doomed guests. Surprised,
and with a presentiment of their intended fate, they
sprang from the table, but before they could defend
themselves both were killed on the spot. Wallenstein,
as has been stated, had gone to bed, but he was roused
from his first sleep by the report of a musket, and
sprang to the window to learn the occasion of it, whe n
he heard the screams of Tertzky's and Illo's wives, who
had just learned the fate of their husbands ; but before
he had time to reflect on the occasion of the uproar, a
heavy weight fell against his bolted door, and burst it
open. It was Captain Devereux, with six halberdiers
at his back, who now presented themselves before the
General. The Duke was in his shirt and night-gown,
and had neither sword nor pistols with him, proving
how utterly unconscious he was of any design against
his life. " Art thou the villain," said Devereux, " who
intends to deliver up the Emperor's troops to the
enemy, and to tear the crown from the head of His
Majesty? Now thou must die." Astonishment ap-
pears to have seized Wallenstein to such a degree that
he remained unmoved, and returned no answer, but
threw his arms wide open, and even bared his breast,
to receive the blow. He was offered a few moments
to say his prayers, but did not utter a single word from
first to last. The deadly thrust of their weapons did
the work of death in an instant, and the illustrious
Duke of Friedland fell weltering in his blood without
uttering a groan, and closed his active and extra-
ordinary life in an instant, under the vigour of only fifty
300 ALliHlXHT VON WAIiDBTEEBT.
years. The naked body of Wallenstein, with those of his
fellow-victims, was carried in a dung-cart through the
principal streets of Egra with ignominy and insult, and
tin-own into a ditch ; but the Emperor conceded to his
widow subsequently that it should be interred under
the chapel of his palace at Gitschin in Moravia, which
he had there caused to be erected.
The assus- It is related that Ferdinand, when he heard of his
sins al"° . death, shed one tear over the fate of his General, and
rewarded. ' '
ordered 3000 masses to be sung for his soul at Vienna.
Devereux and Butler, with the illustrious blood of Wal-
lenstein on their consciences, hastened to the Court, and
were the first to meet the Emperor as he emitted church.
Upon seeing the latter, the Csesar exclaimed, " Deus
conservet et benedicat dilectum nobis caput Butlerum
nostrum." He then carried the two officers to the Arch-
bishop who had just performed mass before him, and
ordered him to place gold chains on their necks with
the benediction of the Church. Gold purses, gold chains,
chamberlains' keys, and dignities, rewarded the other
assassins, and the conspirators against Wallenstein
shared his estates amongst them. G alias received
Friedland ; Piccolomini, Rachod ; Coloredo, Opotschno ;
Aldringer, Toplitz ; and the Emperor, as head con-
spirator, appropriated Sagan and Glogau to himself.
The money found in Wallenstein' s treasury was scat-
tered as largess among the soldiery ; and £2000 were
paid down en argent comptant to each captain. His
very house perished, and all his mighty power and
possessions were scattered to the four winds of heaven.
The estate of Gitschin, in which it is believed the
sepulchral chamber of the Duke of Friedland is situated,
or as some call it the Neuschloss, was assigned as the
widow's portion ; and it descended to their only child,
called Maria Elizabeth, afterwards married to a Count
Kaunitz.
Wallen- It is not necessary at this time of day to pro-
rtein'sepi- nounce any sentence upon this grievous termination of
s
ALBEECIIT XOTt WALDSTEIN. 301
a gorgeous military career. It has been written of reflections
him in a Latin epitaph, by Father Joseph, — ductand1"
" Gloriam dedit imperio, Imperium sibi ruinam : character.
Vitam, opes, amicos pro Csesare toties exposuit,
Vitara opes amicos Caesar semel abstulit :
Vita cessat — Fama durat."
The room in the burgomaster's house at Egra, where this
base murder was committed, may still be seen by the in-
quisitive traveller, and the blood-spots on the wall speak
still to the compassion of men, and to their denounce-
ment of Imperial bloody-mindedness. The mighty re-
nown of Wallenstein is not recorded, it is believed, in
brass or marble any where, but it will for ever live in
the mind of posterity, and in the song of the most
illustrious poet of Germany. An historian, Friedrich
Forster of Potsdam, has recently given to the world
some documents recovered out of family archives, to
attest his innocence of treason ; but the whole chain
of history must be broken into fragments before the
sad truth of his criminality can be denied, or his inno-
cence be admitted by posterity.
Wallenstein is said to have been in figure tall, with a
martial and rather severe air, remarkably high forehead,
and hair dark and reddish in his manhood, but which
had already become grey before his death. He was a
man of unfathomable silence and profound dissimula-
tion. His extreme desire that a Generalissimo should
never familiarize himself with the generals and officers
below him induced him to affect to eat alone. He
professed a sort of natural antipathy to noise, so that
his officers were even careful that the rowels of their
spurs should be bound with a little silk to pay court to
the commander's singularity. When any one made a
noise, in his extreme rage he would cry out, " Hang
that brute."
/ He was, undoubtedly, one of the greatest generals of
his time, and this in a sense superior to all others ;
for he knew how to collect armies, how to discipline
them in the shortest time, how to organize them, how
302 AUSHECHT TON WALDSTETN.
to direct them best into combat, and how most cer-
tainly to lead them to victory. He had the highest
qualities for both a hero and a ruler — prudence, justice,
and courage; and no one ever surpassed him in the
qualities of firmness and perseverance. Terror was the
talisman by which he worked on the minds of men.
Stern he was in countenance, silent as fate, inexorable
as destiny. Before he uttered he knew and had
weighed in his mind all that he wished to execute ;
and when he spoke, he only communicated to his
instruments what was necessary for each subordinate to
know for the attainment of his settled, predetermined
purpose. No one dared to question him. Extreme in
the severity of his punishments as bounteous in his
rewards, he knew precisely how to excite the zeal of
his followers, and how to sustain it to its required
extent ; for no general of ancient or modern times
could boast of being obeyed with equal alacrity. Ab-
solute submission to his command was more highly
appreciated by him than bravery. He was always
grasping after wealth and power ; but when he ob-
tained the former, it was to dispense it with lavish
prodigality ; so that it may be said of him, as was
said of Wolsey, —
" Though he were unsatisfied in getting,
Which were a sin ; yet in bestowing
He was most bounteous."
He deemed submission to a General's will to be so
pre-eminently the one great quality of a soldier, that he
would maintain it by capricious orders, and lavish a
reward where he found obedience, while he would merci-
lessly punish the smallest attempt to evade his com-
mands. He once issued a general order, with the penalty
of death on disobedience, — that none but red sashes
should be worn in his army. A captain of horse was
no sooner informed of it, than, pulling off the hand-
some gold embroidered sash he wore, he trampled it
under foot. As soon as Wallenstein was informed of
the circumstance, he sent for the officer, and promoted
ALBRECHT VON WALDSTEEN". 303
him to the rank of colonel on the spot. In all his ap-
parent caprice he steadily kept in view his one ruling
aim of power. It was Wallenstein who held the maxim,
" Que la fortune favorise toujours les gros escadrons ;"
there is, however, a very great number of aspirants to
the honour of this dictum, and some will have it to be
a saying of Napoleon. It is a truth, whoever said it.
The maraudings that were on one occasion carried on
by his soldiers in a friendly country required in his judg-
ment some marked example ; and Wallenstein having
encountered a straggler in the very act, commanded him
to be seized, and, without awaiting any trial, in his usual
voice of thunder, he exclaimed, " Hang that fellow."
The culprit pleaded and proved his innocence ; but
Wallenstein had already passed sentence, and would al-
low no opposition to avail. " Let him be hanged even if
he be innocent, and the guilty will have more reason
to tremble." Preparations were ab*eady making to
carry the 'sentence into execution, when the soldier,
rendered desperate, broke from those who held him,
and, with the resolution that he would not die without
his revenge, fell furiously upon the Duke ; but the man
was fortunately disarmed before he could fulfil his
design, when Wallenstein said, " Now let him go ; my
object is attained ; the punishment he was about to
undergo has done its work, and will excite sufficient
terror." He was rather successful by the means of
good fortune than great in the inventive art of war ;
and he was much better qualified to maintain discipline
and subsist an army, — in both which talents he was
admirable, — than to conduct it scientifically in the day
of battle.
The whole German people unite in insisting, with The crown
national partiality, on the rectitude of character of this °f Boll<;mia
, . , . . . , at one time
extraordinary man ; but it must be admitted, that offered to
among all the public and well-attested actions of Wal- him.by
lenstein there is not one that could work out a clear xiIL: mis-
acquittal before any twelve men of the world. He statement
was from the earliest step of his career a man seeking0 ^chlUer-
.101-
A.LBBECITT VOX WALDSTE1B".
the aggrandizement of self by the sordid acquisition o
wealth. To this lie gave all his mind,reckleB8 as to an en
lightened and judicious management of it. lie owed hi
Duchies of Friedland, Sagan, Glogau, and Mecklenburg
to the cupidity, urgency, and importunity of his owi
solicitations for his unquestionable services to the State
but he was equally ready to have obtained the crown o
Denmark out of an unsettled fidelity to his Imperia
Master. It now, however, appears from the publish r<
Richelieu Memoirs, and the correspondence of th(
Marquis de Feuquieres, that a distinct offer of the
crown of Bohemia was made him by Louis XIII. On
the other hand, it must be admitted that there is no
paper extant, under the handwriting of Wallenstcin,
nor any authentic juridical act, that attests his guilt
There is only the consistent combination of cause and
effect, and the undeviating unanimity of historians,
Catholic and Protestant, that determines a verdict of
" Guilt)/" but nothing to justify " Death." Schiller
says, " Wallenstcin fell, not because he was a rebel ; but
he became a rebel, because he fell." This is not the
fairest way of putting it. He was, when he died, in
the very act of levjang war against his Sovereign, and
of allying himself with the enemies of his church and
nation, against the Emperor and the Catholic League ;
and it was only a barbarous and cruel murder that pre-
vented him from dying a convicted rebel at the very
period when he fell. A man whom almost all his con-
temporaries and associates united in condemning can-
not but have been a worthless character. The great
Oxcnstierna has left a record concerning Wallenstein,
that " he who betrays his own country will betray an-
other ;" and Bernhard of Saxe Weimar answered an
offer of coalition which was made him by stating that
" no man can put faith in one who does not believe
in God2."
2 Mitchell's Life of Wallenstein ; Harte, Schiller, Carte, Fryell,
Menzell, Richelieu's Memoirs, Feuquieres' Correspondence, and
Biographies, passim.
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